Island

Island in the biblical text translates primarily the Hebrew 'i (plural 'iyyim), a word whose range of meaning is broader than its English equivalent. It can denote coastal lands, distant shores, and inhabited regions across the sea — essentially any territory reached by water. The ancient Israelite conception of geography placed the land of Canaan at the center; distant coastlands and Mediterranean islands (Cyprus, Crete, Greece, and beyond) were 'iyyim — lands at the far edges of the known world.

Isaiah uses the term extensively in his universal vision: the coastlands and islands are called to listen (Isaiah 42:4, 10; 49:1), they will wait for God's law, and they will be renewed in the coming restoration. This geographic expansion of the prophetic address to distant shores reflects the scope of Isaiah's vision of God's rule over all nations. In the New Testament context, islands appear as locations of significant events: Paul was shipwrecked on Malta (Acts 28:1–10); Patmos was the island of John's exile where he received the Revelation (Revelation 1:9); and Cyprus, Crete, and other Mediterranean islands were visited during the missionary journeys, confirming the fulfillment of the gospel reaching the distant coastlands.