Wasn’t eretz Hebrew for the earth, NT was Greek.
You are correct. The word for "world" in Matthew 24:14, as in "preached in all the world," is:
(3625) oy-kou-men’-ay; feminine participle presumed passive of (3611) (oijke>w) (as noun, by implication of (1093) (gh~)); land, i.e. the (terrene part of the) globe; specially the Roman empire: — earth, world.
The same word is used in Luke 2:1 regarding Caesar taxing "all the world," which must have been the Roman Empire.
Two related verses that use that Greek word are Acts 11:28 (great dearth throughout all the world) and Rom 10:17-18 (words (heard) unto the ends of the world.)
Some of the other verses that use that Greek word are:
"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." (Rev 3:10)
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Rev 12:9)
"For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." (Rev 16:14)
Philip
Yes - It's one of the reasons I think the NT was originally Hebrew - If one is sensitive to it, there are many places where the term is ambiguous in the text, where a Greek origination would not have needed to be ambiguous - another word could have been applied. For instance:
Act 11:27 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
Act 11:28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Act 11:29 Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
Act 11:30 Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
(e-Sword:KJV)
This passage doesn't make sense - If the whole world was going to have a famine, why send money to Judea? But if the 'whole world' was a mistranslated 'Eretz' it could have just as easily meant 'the whole land' (of Judea or Israel), in which case, having drawn the meaning by way of the context of the sentence, the passage would make better sense, as the men of Antioch are not under the famine, and can afford to send money to those who are.