Earth
(
From Easton's Bible Dictionary)[*]In the sense of soil or ground, the translation of the word
adamah' . In
Genesis 9:20 "husbandman" is literally "man of the ground or earth."
Altars were to be built of earth (Exodus 20:24). Naaman asked for two mules' burden of earth (II Kings 5:17), under the superstitious notion that Jehovah, like the gods of the heathen, could be acceptably worshipped only on his own soil.
(2). As the rendering of
'erets , it means the whole world (
Genesis 1:2); the land as opposed to the sea (
1:10).
Erets also denotes a country (
21:32); a plot of ground (
23:15); the ground on which a man stands (
33:3); the inhabitants of the earth (
6:1;
11:1); all the world except Israel (II Chronicles 13:9). In the New Testament "the earth" denotes the land of Judea (
Matthew 23:35); also things carnal in contrast with things heavenly (
John 3:31;
Colossians 3:1,2).