קָצֶה

From the study of Isaiah 43:6

Range of meaning

"End or edge of the earth": the farthest regions of the inhabited world as ancient Israel knew it. ʾEreṣ can mean "land" (a country) or "earth" (the whole world). In this fixed phrase it means the whole earth.

Against the English

"Ends of the earth" is a good equivalent. The phrase is a picture of maximum distance. It is not a statement about the shape of the planet.

Used elsewhere in the period

The phrase is frequent in Isaiah 40–55: 40:28 (God created the ends of the earth), 41:5, 41:9 (Abraham taken "from the ends of the earth"), 42:10, 48:20 ("proclaim it to the end of the earth"), 49:6, and 52:10.

From the study of Psalm 61:2

Range of meaning

Qatseh is the end, edge or outermost part of something: the end of a field, a city, the heavens (Deut 4:32), or the land (Deut 28:49, 64). Erets means both 'land/country' and 'earth'. Together the phrase can mean (a) the frontier of Israel's own territory, (b) the far edges of the known world, where nations and the sea begin (Isa 5:26; Deut 28:49), or (c) as a figure of speech, the farthest point from God's presence.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV say 'the end of the earth'; BSB and NIV say 'the ends of the earth'. The plural 'ends' suggests to modern ears the remote corners of the globe, as in missionary language. The Hebrew is singular: one edge, one limit. 'Land' (YLT) is just as possible a sense.

How it drifted

Since Acts 1:8 and the modern missions movement, 'the ends of the earth' has come to suggest the whole planet. The Hebrew phrase works on a smaller and more personal map: the outer boundary seen from Jerusalem.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 28:49, 64 uses the phrase for far-off places of invasion and exile. Isa 5:26 and 42:10 use it for the distant world. In the ancient Near Eastern picture of the world, the 'edges' of the earth bordered the chaotic waters and the gloomy region near the underworld, so being 'at the end of the earth' could suggest nearness to death (compare Jonah 2:6–7, where the same verb for 'fainting' comes up).

From the study of Genesis 47:21

Range of meaning

Qatseh: end, edge, extremity. Gevul: border, boundary or the territory it encloses.

Against the English

KJV/YLT keep 'borders' or 'border'. BSB/NIV shorten it to 'from one end of Egypt to the other'. The meaning is the same.

Used elsewhere in the period

The 'from end to end' idiom appears in Exod 26:28, Deut 13:7 and 28:64, where it means comprehensively and without exception.