(1.) In the sense of soil or ground, the translation of the word _adamah'_. In Gen. 9:20 "husbandman" is literally "man of the ground or earth." Altars were to be built of earth (Exo 20:24). Naaman asked for two mules' burden of earth (2-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 (Gen. 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 (2-Chr 13:9). In the New Testament "the earth" denotes the land of Judea (Matt. 23:35); also things carnal in contrast with things heavenly (John 3:31; Col. 3:1, Col. 3: 2).