StrongerBible

i

אִי

HebrewH0339“island, coastland, ...”

Appears 36 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 10:5Est 10:1Psa 72:10Psa 97:1Isa 11:11Isa 20:6Isa 23:2Isa 23:6Isa 24:15Isa 40:15Isa 41:1Isa 41:5Isa 42:4Isa 42:10Isa 42:12Isa 42:15Isa 49:1Isa 51:5Isa 59:18Jer 2:10Jer 25:22Jer 47:4Ezk 26:18Ezk 27:6Ezk 27:7Zep 2:11
Names & words formed with this
Word studyEEnoun

What i means

coastland: land bordering or set within the sea, from a single shore or island out to the far-off maritime regions and the peoples who live there

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

At its plainest the word names land that meets the sea: a coast, a shore, or an island, a definite place you could sail to, such as Crete or Cyprus or the Phoenician seaboard.

Far more often, above all in Isaiah, it opens outward to the distant coastlands: the far shores that ring the known world and the peoples scattered along them. Here it is less about geography than about reach. When the prophets say the coastlands wait, tremble, or sing, they mean the most remote nations, the very ends of the earth.

The two uses are one picture seen up close and from afar. The same word that marks a particular seacoast can sweep out to every distant shore, which is why English versions move between island, coast, and coastland depending on how wide the view is.

Nuances

1aa coast, shore, or island: a specific stretch of land bordered by the sea
Isa 20:6Isa 23:2Isa 23:6Isa 42:15Jer 2:10Jer 25:22Jer 47:4Ezk 27:6Ezk 27:7
1bthe distant coastlands: far-off lands along the sea, and by extension the peoples who live there, standing for the remotest parts of the earth
Gen 10:5Est 10:1Psa 72:10Psa 97:1Isa 11:11Isa 24:15Isa 40:15Isa 41:1Isa 41:5Isa 42:4Isa 42:10Isa 42:12

What scholars say about i

The standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat אִי as a single noun meaning coast, coastland, or island, with a well attested extension to the distant maritime regions and, by metonymy, their inhabitants. The concrete geographic sense is clearest where a specific locale is named: Caphtor (Crete) in Jeremiah 47:4, Kittim (Cyprus) and Elishah in Ezekiel 27:6-7, and the Phoenician coast in Isaiah 23. The extended sense dominates Deutero-Isaiah, where the איים are the farthest nations summoned to attend to the LORD's salvation (Isaiah 41:1, 5; 42:4, 10, 12; 49:1; 51:5). The Table of Nations already carries this ethnographic nuance in the phrase rendered "the coastland peoples" (Genesis 10:5). A few occurrences are semantically or text-critically contested, notably Isaiah 42:15, where "islands" sits oddly beside the drying up of pools and some read a different vocalization. No live disagreement attaches to the core meaning of the word.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. אִיlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. אִיlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. אִיlexicon
  • TWOT, s.v. אִי (no. 39)theological-dictionary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of אִי

m p absolute

אִיִּים, אִיִּן

Psa 72:10, Psa 97:1, Isa 40:15, Isa 41:1, Isa 41:5, Isa 42:4, Isa 42:10, Isa 42:12

m p construct

אִיֵּי

Gen 10:5, Est 10:1, Isa 11:11, Isa 24:15, Jer 2:10, Ezk 27:6, Ezk 27:7, Zep 2:11

m s absolute

אִי

Isa 20:6, Isa 23:2, Isa 23:6, Jer 25:22

m s construct

אִי

Jer 47:4