Either,
1. The globe, consisting of earth and water, which is here called earth; as it is called the deep, and the water s, Genesis 1:2. Or,
2. The earth is here put for the sea, the other part of the same globe; as the soul is put for the body, or the dead carcass, the other part of the man, Leviticus 19:28, Leviticus 21:1 Numbers 6:6,9,11. Or,
3. The earth properly, either because many of them sunk into the mud at the bottom of the sea, and were buried in it; or because, after they were cast up upon the shore, they were buried by the Israelites in the earth.