Ioudaios

Ioudaios (Greek: ; pl. Ἰουδαῖοι Ioudaioi) is a Greek ethnonym used in classical and biblical literature which commonly translates to "Jew" or "Judean". In its various meanings, the word has also been translated as "Judahites", "people of the region of Judah/Judea" (Greek: ) and "leaders of Judea".

The choice of translation is the subject of frequent scholarly debate, given its central importance to passages in the Bible (both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament) as well as works of other writers such as Josephus and Philo. Translating it as Jews is seen to imply connotations as to the religious beliefs of the people, whereas translating it as Judeans confines the identity within the geopolitical boundaries of Judea.

A related translation debate refers to the terms ἰουδαΐζειν (verb), literally translated as Judaizing, and Ἰουδαϊσμός (noun), controversially translated as Judaism or Judeanism.

The Hebrew term Yehudi (יְהוּדִי) occurs 74 times in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible. It occurs first in the Hebrew Bible in 2 Kings 16:6 where Rezin king of Syria drove the 'Jews' out of Elath, and earliest among the prophets in Jeremiah 32:12 of 'Jews' that sat in the court of the prison." In the Septuagint the term is translated Ioudaios.

As mentioned above, translating it as "Jews" has implications about the beliefs of the people whereas translation as "Judeans" emphasizes their geographical origin.

The word Ioudaioi is used primarily in three areas of literature in antiquity: the later books of the Hebrew Bible (e.g. the Books of the Maccabees), the New Testament (particularly the Gospel of John and Acts of the Apostles), and classical writers from the region such as Josephus and Philo.

...
Wikipedia