Job 26:5-14

From Reconciling understandings of Scripture and Science
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BibleOld TestamentJob

KJV

He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

RSV

He stretches out the north over the void,
    and hangs the earth upon nothing.


NRSV

He stretches out Zaphon[a] over the void,
    and hangs the earth upon nothing.
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not torn open by them.
He covers the face of the full moon,
    and spreads over it his cloud.
10 He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
    at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble,
    and are astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stilled the Sea;
    by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
13 By his wind the heavens were made fair;
    his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

[a] Or the North

This verse is sometimes read as meaning that the Earth orbits in space. This would suggest that the Bible is divinely inspired, since this scientific fact was unknown when the Bible was written. Similarly, Isaiah 40:22 is sometimes read as referring to the spherical shape of the Earth.

The context, however, especially as seen in the NRSV, makes references to ancient cosmology and mythological beliefs about primeval theomachy that we reject nowadays — so the claim that the passage is miraculously prescient must fail.

Bruce (talk)

See Did the Bible anticipate modern science?