Heathen: (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word "goyim" denoted generally all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; compare Gal. 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the other "goyim". They were a separate people (Lev. 20:23; 26:14-45; Deut. 28), and the other nations, the Amorites, Hittites, etc., were the "goyim", the heathen, with whom the Jews were forbidden to be associated in any way (Josh. 23:7; 1 Kings 11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters (Ps. 106:47; Jer. 46:28; Lam. 1:3; Isa. 36:18), the wicked (Ps. 9:5, 15, 17).

The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, "ethne", has similar shades of meaning. In Acts 22:21, Gal. 3:14, it denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Matt. 6:7, an idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are strangers to revealed religion.