Heathen

From BibleEncyclopedia.Net

hē´th'n, hē´then:

(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 (Jos_23:7; 1Ki_11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters (Psa_106:47; Jer_46:28; Lam_1:3; Isa_36:18), the wicked (Psa_9:5, Psa_9:15, Psa_9:17).

The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, ethne, has similar shades of meaning. In Act_22:21, Gal_3:14, it denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Mat_6:7, an idolater.

In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are strangers to revealed religion.

See Gentiles.