Bible Dictionary
LAND
Land may mean the earth, a country, a region, or a particular piece of ground. Biblical usage includes the land of Israel, foreign countries, cultivated fields, and dry ground.
Definition
Land may mean the earth, a country, a region, a field, dry ground, or a particular piece of ground. The biblical term is used both broadly for a territory and narrowly for cultivated or native soil.
Biblical Usage
Scripture speaks of lands such as Egypt, Israel, and other countries, as well as fields and dry land. “Land” may also describe a person’s native or home-born status.
Historical Background
Several Hebrew and Greek words are translated “land,” including terms meaning earth, soil, field, region, country, and dry land.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>((1) 'erets;</p><p>(2) 'adhamah;</p><p>(3) sadheh,</p><p>"a piece of land";</p><p>(4) ge, "earth";</p><p>(5) agros, "field";</p><p>(6) chora, "region";</p><p>(7) chorion, diminutive of chora;</p><p>(8) xeros, "dry land";</p><p>(9) 'ezrach, "native" the King James Version "born in the land," "born among you," the Revised Version (British and American) "home-born" (Le 19:34; 14:16; Nu 15:30); "like a green tree in its native soil" (Ps 37:35)):</p><p>'Erets occurs hundreds of times and is used in much the same way as 'adhamah, which also occurs often: e.g. "land of Egypt," 'erets mitsrayim (Ge 13:10), and 'adhmath mitsrayim (Ge 47:20). The other words occur less often, and are used in the senses indicated above.</p><p>See COUNTRY; EARTH.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>