In the bible the word "world" is it referring to the earth or the people?

World [N]
The biblical concept of world falls into five categories: the physical world, the human world, the moral world, the temporal world, and the coming world.

The Physical World. The physical world at its largest extent includes the whole universe, the cosmos ( John 1:9 ; Acts 17:24 ) or the creation ( Rom 8:20 ). When biblical writers refer to the world, however, they usually mean the earth itself, not including sun, moon, and stars. No clear Old Testament references appear to the world as a planet, although Isaiah 40:22, "the circle of the earth, " is suggestive to some. Many Old Testament uses of world or earth (eres, in poetry sometimes tebel [lebeT]) could refer equally to the planet or the ground. When Old Testament writers wanted to refer to the universe, they used an expression like "the heavens and the earth" ( Gen 1:1 ) or an expansion of that expression ( Exod 20:11 ; Neh 9:6 ).

Depends upon context.

In most cases it refers to a group of people.

Depending upon context it can refer to all of mankind or a specific group of mankind.

For an in depth study go to:

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200004627

Good reading.

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When the bible says the word world. It is referring to the people and the system. When its talking about the rock that goes around the sun it uses the word Earth


For God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only begotten Son. Is obviously not talking about the rock

It could be either so some context is needed.

Depends upon the context of what is written before and after it - usually it means the unbelievers - such as the world will know you are My disciples, if you have love one for the other but it can mean lands etc. ("Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing those who believe etc" (Matthew 28:19)

It can mean either. It can also mean the gentiles, the affairs or concerns of people, or government. It depends on context.

According to 1 John 5:19 it shows that the whole world is lying in power of the wicked one. This world that disobey God commandments is specified in Ephesians 2:2.

"The world is the planet Earth and all life upon it, including human civilization. In a philosophical context, the "world" is the whole of the physical Universe, or an ontological world (the "world" of an individual). In a theological context, the world is the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred spheres. "End of the world" scenarios refer to the end of human history, often in religious contexts." Wiki

They must have been referring to the places they knew about.

Neither. They’re referring to the culture.