Home

HOME hom (bayith, "house," maqom, "place," 'ohel, "tent" (Judges 19:9), shubh, "to cause to turn back," tawekh, tokh, "middle," "midst" (Deuteronomy 21:12); oikos, "house," "household," endemeo, "to be among one's people," oikos idios, "one's own proper (house)"):

This term in Scripture does not stand for a single specific word of the original, but for a variety of phrases. Most commonly it is a translation of the Hebrew bayith, Greek oikos "house," which means either the building or the persons occupying it. In Genesis 43:26 "home" and "into the house" represent the same phase, "to the house" (ha-bayethah). In Ruth 1:21, "hath brought me home again" means "has caused me to return." In 2 Chronicles 25:10 "home again" means "to their place." In Ecclesiastes 12:5 "long home," the Revised Version (British and American) "everlasting home," means "eternal house." In John 19:27 "unto his own home" means "unto his own things" (so John 1:11). In 2 Corinthians 5:6 (and the Revised Version (British and American) 5:8,9) "be at home" is a translation of endemeo, "to be among one's own people," as opposed to ekdemeo, "to be or live abroad."

Benjamin Reno Downer

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'HOME'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.