עֵדָה

From the study of Numbers 20:11

Range of meaning

The community or assembly of Israel as an organised whole: all the tribes and households, often acting through representatives. It is especially common in the priestly writings of Exodus to Numbers. It overlaps with qahal ('assembly, gathering,' used in v.10). Possibly related to the verb ya'ad, 'to appoint, meet by appointment.'

Against the English

KJV/BSB 'congregation' suggests to modern ears a group of worshippers in a building. YLT 'company' and NIV/ESV-style renderings ('community', 'congregation') vary. The Hebrew means the whole people as a national and kinship body, with its children, its households, and, as this verse shows, its animals.

How it drifted

'Congregation' entered English Bibles via the Latin congregatio (Vulgate). Over time it narrowed to mean a local church audience.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 20:1–2 ('the whole 'edah came to the wilderness of Zin... there was no water for the 'edah'), Num 14:1–10, Num 16 (Korah's 'edah). The LXX usually translates 'edah as synagōgē ('gathering'). That is the source of the later word 'synagogue', and the LXX uses it here too.

From the study of Psalm 111:1

Range of meaning

An assembly gathered by appointment: above all 'the congregation of Israel' in Exodus–Numbers, the whole people as a worshipping and legal body. It can also mean a gang or band (Ps 22:16 'band of evildoers'; Num 16 'Korah's company') and the divine assembly (Ps 82:1).

Against the English

'Assembly' (BSB, NIV, NASB) or 'congregation' (KJV, WEB, ESV). Both are fine. 'Congregation' can make a modern reader picture a local church, but here it means the gathered people of Israel.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is used over a hundred times in the Pentateuch for Israel assembled before YHWH. The Septuagint usually renders it synagōgē, which it does here too ('kai synagōgē'). That Greek word later gave us 'synagogue'.

From the study of Exodus 16:2

Range of meaning

A gathered, organised body: the community of Israel as an assembly that meets, receives instruction and acts together, usually through its elders and heads of families. Often linked to the root yʿd, 'to appoint a meeting'. The same root gives 'tent of meeting' (ʾōhel mōʿēd).

Against the English

'Congregation' (BSB, KJV, WEB) and 'community' (NIV, NLT) are both acceptable. YLT's 'company' captures the sense of a group on the move.

How it drifted

'Congregation' now usually means the people who attend one local church service.

Used elsewhere in the period

Very common in Exodus 12–40, Leviticus, Numbers and Joshua. Scholars often see it as typical of the priestly strand of the Pentateuch. The Greek Septuagint usually translates it synagōgē, the word later used for Jewish meeting houses.