Except as noted above, i in the Revised Version (British and American) is translated "isle" or "island." ARVAD (which see), a Phoenician island-city North of Tripoli, Syria, is mentioned in
Ge 10:18;
1Ch 1:16;
Eze 27:8,
11. This and Tyre were the only important islands on the coast, both of them very small. We find references to Kittim or Chittim, Cyprus (
Ge 10:4;
Nu 24:24;
1Ch 1:7;
Isa 23:1,
12;
Jer 2:10;
Eze 27:6;
Da 11:30); to Elisha, perhaps Carthage (
Ge 10:4;
1Ch 1:7;
Eze 27:7); to "isles of the nations" (
Ge 10:5;
Ze 2:11); to "isles of the sea" (
Es 10:1; 11:11; 24:15;
Eze 26:18); to "Tarshish and the isles" (
Ps 72:10; compare
Isa 66:19); to "isle (the Revised Version margin "sea-coast") of Caphtor" (
Jer 47:4). Communication with these islands or distant coasts is kept up by the Tyrians (
Eze 27:3,
15). The Jews were not a maritime people, and in early times their geographical knowledge was very limited. Of 32 Old Testament passages referring to "island" or "isle," 25 are in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. In the New Testament, besides the passages noted above, and Patmos (
Re 1:9), various islands are mentioned by name in connection with the voyages of Paul, e.g. Cyprus, Crete, Lesbos, Samos, Samothrace, Chios, Melita, Sicily (Syracuse,
Ac 28:12). "Jackals" is a perfectly possible translation of iyim (the King James Version "wild beasts of the islands," the Revised Version (British and
American) "wolves," the Revised Version margin "howling creatures").