hom (bayith, "house," maqom, "place," 'ohel, "tent" (Judges 19:9), shubh, "to cause to turn back," tawekh, tokh, "middle," "midst" (Deuteronomy 21:12); oikos, "house," "household," endemeo, "to be among one's people," oikos idios, "one's own proper (house)"): This term in Scripture does not stand for a single specific word of the original, but for a variety of phrases. Most commonly it is a translation of the Hebrew bayith, Greek oikos "house," which means either the building or the persons occupying it. In Genesis 43:26 "home" and "into the house" represent the same phase, "to the house" (ha-bayethah). In Ruth 1:21, "hath brought me home again" means "has caused me to return." In 2 Ch 25:10 "home again" means "to their place." In Ecclesiastes 12:5 "long home," the Revised Version (British and American) "everlasting home," means "eternal house." In John 19:27 "unto his own home" means "unto his own things" (so John 1:11). In 2 Cor 5:6 (and the Revised Version (British and American) 5:8,9) "be at home" is a translation of endemeo, "to be among one's own people," as opposed to ekdemeo, "to be or live abroad."

Benjamin Reno Downer

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Are you a good person? Try the good person test.