Isle
Island
These words occur in the Scriptures in the three following senses. First, that of dry land in opposition to water; as ‘I will make the rivers islands’ (Isa 42:15). In Isa 20:6, the Isle of Ashdod means the country, and is so rendered in the margin. In Isa 23:2; Isa 23:6, ‘the isle’ means the country of Tyre, and in Eze 27:6-7, that of Chittim and Elisha (see also Job 22:30). Secondly, it is used both in Hebrew and English, according to its geographical meaning, for a country surrounded by water, as in Jer 47:4, ‘the isle (margin) of Caphtor,’ which is probably that of Cyprus. ‘The isles of the sea’ (Est 10:1) are evidently put in opposition to ‘the land,’ or continent. In Psa 97:1, ‘the multitude of the isles’ seem distinguished from the earth or continents, and are evidently added to complete the description of the whole world. Thirdly: the word is used by the Hebrews to designate all those countries divided from them by the sea. In Isa 11:11, after an enumeration of countries lying on their own continent, the words ‘and the islands of the sea’ are added in order to comprehend those situate beyond the ocean. The following are additional instances of this usage of the word, which is of very frequent occurrence (Isa 42:10; Isa 59:18; Isa 66:19; Jer 25:22; Eze 27:3; Eze 27:15; Zep 2:11). It is observed by Sir I. Newton (On Daniel, p. 276), ‘By the earth the Jews understood the great continent of all Asia and Africa, to which they had access by land; and by the isles of the sea they understood the places to which they sailed by sea, particularly all Europe.’
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Isle
Isle. The radical sense of the Hebrew word seems to be “habitable places”, as opposed to water, and in this sense, it occurs in Isa 42:15. Hence, it means secondarily, any maritime district, whether belonging to a continent or to an island; thus it is used of the shore of the Mediterranean, Isa 20:6; Isa 23:2; Isa 23:6, and of the coasts of Elishah, Eze 27:7, that is, of Greece and Asia Minor.