Gentiles (the equivalent of the Heb. goyim and Gr. ), the name by which the Jews distinguished all other nations or gentes from themselves. In its religious bearing it nearly corresponded to our word heathen; for all who were not Jews, and circumcised, they regarded as excluded from all the religious privileges and relations by which they were so greatly exalted. In the writings of St. Paul the gentiles are generally denoted as Greeks. The court of the gentiles about the temple was the outer space, marked off by a wall or balustrade breast high, within which strangers were forbidden to enter, though they might come as far as the barrier to present their offerings. This explains the meaning of Paul, when he speaks of the middle wall of partition between Jews and gentiles as being broken down by the gospel.