# Does the Bible state that the earth is spherical? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893 "2016-02-23T17:32:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/21 "2016-02-24T19:16:45Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > In [Matthew 4:8](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A1-11&version=NKJV), Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world from a high mountain. > > That’s only possible on a flat Earth. > > You have to get quite twisty to show that the Biblical writers knew the Earth was round. Holy Cow! I had forgotten all about that story! Yeah, you’re right, that kinda clinches it, I think. Whoever wrote Matthew thought that the world was flat. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/22 "2016-02-24T19:23:54Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Do Not Taunt: > > Technically, the word used (Choog) means the “circumference”, a term that could apply to either a two-dimensional circle or to a three-dimensional sphere. And it’s obviously poetic language, as Judaism does not believe that G-d, incorporeal being that he is believed to be, literally sits. When G-d’s behavior is described using words that logically apply only to beings with bodies, it’s speaking figuratively by using terms humans can relate to. In poetic terms, the modern English words circumference & perimeter are all but interchangeable. Stating that he sits above the perimeter of the Earth would be saying: “We don’t know or care what shape the Earth is, but the whole of it is visible from his privileged POV” And not necessarily any more than that. Your overall point stands: the whole thing is full of allegory & poetry. Trying to read any of it for detail or with legalistic precision across 2000 years of cultural change and a few intermediate translations is silly. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/23 "2016-02-24T19:54:30Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > (Edit - Skammer’s posts weren’t there when I began typing my reply) > > And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. > [Isaiah 11:12King James Version (KJV)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+11:12&version=KJV) > > Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. [land is rendered as Earth in some translations] > [Ezekiel 7:2 King James Version (KJV)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%207:1-3&version=KJV) > > And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. > [Revelation 7:1 King James Version (KJV)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%207:1-2&version=KJV) The Bible is full of figurative and poetic language. Her breasts were very likely not young even-toed ungulates. _Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies._ Her neck very likely was not made of stone, and likely had not even one shield, let alone 1000. _Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors._ Go to any major newspaper, even the U.S. Naval Observatory, and you’ll find times for “Sunset” and “Sunrise” even tho the Earth rotates, the Sun does not set. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/24 "2016-02-24T19:57:20Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > In [Matthew 4:8](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A1-11&version=NKJV), Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world from a high mountain. > > That’s only possible on a flat Earth. > > . Not possible on a Flat earth, either, without magic. Since we _know_ there was magic involved, roundness is hardly a barrier. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/25 "2016-02-24T20:06:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not possible on a Flat earth, either, without magic. Since we _know_ there was magic involved, roundness is hardly a barrier. Drat. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/26 "2016-02-24T20:38:54Z")
I would bet money no single biblical writer knew the earth was round, but there is nothing that really directly contradicts a spherical earth, even the Jesus part, if you think that Jesus had some kind of deity-vision that allowed him to see the world at once OR that what Satan showed him was a vision (yes, I know then why go to a high mountain, but I’m not trying to argue that this literally, or even figuratively happened-- I’m just anticipating what certain Christians might say). I mean, no biblical writer ever said “If you walk more than 200 cubits, tie a rope around your waist, and the other end to a sturdy tree, lest you come to the edge of the earth, and fall off,” or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/27 "2016-02-24T21:02:47Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > And it’s obviously poetic language, as Judaism does not believe that G-d, incorporeal being that he is believed to be, literally sits. When G-d’s behavior is described using words that logically apply only to beings with bodies, it’s speaking figuratively by using terms humans can relate to. Modern day Judaism does not believe that God literally sits. Based on the religions of the time (550 BC), Greek, Roman, Babylonian, etc. there are lot of gods living, seeming literally, on top of specific mountains. In the Bible we also see God listed as living on top of a specific mountain. In surrounding religions, we see gods fighting sea creatures and monsters, calling down lightning, and otherwise interacting with the world like a magical super-wizard style way. And while it has largely been removed from the Bible, we do still see references to God sitting on a throne, swooping over land, calling down lightning, etc. It may be that, at the time the Bible was written, the image of God as a vaguely human-like super-wizard had passed and all references to him acting in such ways are metaphorical, but there’s no particular reason to believe that. It’s just as likely that many of these references were intended to be a largely reasonable description of God, like maybe he existed in another plane of existence, but if you went up Sinai and he decided to let you pass over the boundary, you’d enter a physical palace, see a large, bearded man with a beard sitting on a throne in a large court, ruling over the world and occasionally venturing out to perform acts of magic in support of the Jewish people. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/28 "2016-02-24T21:31:13Z")
Is the phrase “around the world” used anywhere in the Bible? It became a very common phrase once a round earth became common knowledge. You would think that many a Biblical passage would have found the phrase useful in a variety of contexts. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/29 "2016-02-24T22:03:34Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > if you went up Sinai and he decided to let you pass over the boundary, you’d enter a physical palace, see a large, bearded man with a beard sitting on a throne in a large court Fun fact: God can _also_ manifest as a large, bearded man _without_ a beard. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/30 "2016-02-25T18:33:50Z")
I remember one evangelist quoting something about it being in one place but night in another, indicating a round Earth. Or something like that. They didn’t use the circumference verse. Edit: A quick Googling indicates it is Job 26:7. It talks about a physical line (circle in the NKJV) dividing light and darkness. ---
**Author:** ![Stupidtoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@Stupidtoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupidtoy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/31 "2016-02-25T22:34:32Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Fun fact: God can _also_ manifest as a large, bearded man _without_ a beard. We are all one consciousness, accept it or not accept it. religion is not the driving force for what is really going on in our lives. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/32 "2016-02-25T23:42:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I remember one evangelist quoting something about it being in one place but night in another, indicating a round Earth. Or something like that. They didn’t use the circumference verse. > > Edit: A quick Googling indicates it is Job 26:7. It talks about a physical line (circle in the NKJV) dividing light and darkness. It’s [Job 26:10](http://biblehub.com/job/26-10.htm). It doesn’t prove anything about the author’s idea of the earth’s shape, though. A flat, circular earth would also be deprived of sunlight once the sun sinks below the surface (as it appears to do at sunset). ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/33 "2016-02-26T09:40:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Isaiah 40:22 > He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. Seeing people like grasshoppers implies you’re above them but if they’re on the other side of the world you’d be below them with the earth blocking your sight. And tents are normally put up over a flat surface rather than a sphere. Also I wonder what “above” the earth means? Above the north pole? > **[Bible Gateway passage: Joshua 10:13 - King James Version](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%2B10%3A13&version=KJV)** > > And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. Joshua 10:13 > [@](#): > > And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. This would mean that the earth stood still and so did the moon. I guess this is about heliocentrism though. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/34 "2016-02-26T15:41:36Z")
This is not Biblical, but right at the start of the “Summa Theologica,” St. Thomas Aquinas states that the Earth is round and that different types of scholars can demonstrate this fact in different ways. Aquinas was not drawn and quartered or burned at the stake for saying so. Hence, it stands to reason that even in the medieval Church, no one interpreted Scripture as stating that the Earth is flat. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/35 "2016-02-27T00:46:01Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > …Hence, it stands to reason that even in the medieval Church, no one interpreted Scripture as stating that the Earth is flat. The “no one” doesn’t follow. It just wasn’t majority view or strongly defended. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/36 "2016-02-27T01:29:14Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I would bet money no single biblical writer knew the earth was round, but there is nothing that really directly contradicts a spherical earth, even the Jesus part, if you think that Jesus had some kind of deity-vision that allowed him to see the world at once OR that what Satan showed him was a vision (yes, I know then why go to a high mountain, but I’m not trying to argue that this literally, or even figuratively happened-- I’m just anticipating what certain Christians might say)… One big reason to take the mountain temptation of Jesus as figurative is that if there was literally a mountain where one could see all the kingdoms of the world, then that mountain would probably be visible TO all of those kingdoms. Obviously, even ancient people who did some traveling could easily realize that no such mountain exists. If early Christian missionaries considered a literal mountain to be essential to the correctness of the Bible, then surely they would have abandoned Christianity upon their first journey of any length. Is there any indication that this sort of thing happened? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/37 "2016-02-27T01:30:51Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Fun fact: God can _also_ manifest as a large, bearded man _without_ a beard. And also as an adult non-ginger ginger kid. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/38 "2016-02-27T02:22:24Z")
To me the most amazing thing is that Jesus can manifest as a white guy with dishwater blond hair. That’s some serious miracle workin’ those US evangelical artists are doin’. The scholars can’t tell us what skin color, face shape, and hair type Jesus was, but they can tell us a few that he definitely wasn’t. One of which is white, with northern European features and dishwater blond gently wavy hair. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/39 "2016-02-27T04:03:29Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > One big reason to take the mountain temptation of Jesus as figurative is that if there was literally a mountain where one could see all the kingdoms of the world, then that mountain would probably be visible TO all of those kingdoms. Obviously, even ancient people who did some traveling could easily realize that no such mountain exists. If early Christian missionaries considered a literal mountain to be essential to the correctness of the Bible, then surely they would have abandoned Christianity upon their first journey of any length. Is there any indication that this sort of thing happened? Does that mean Jesus’s temptation was like a dream? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893/40 "2016-02-27T04:41:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > To me the most amazing thing is that Jesus can manifest as a white guy with dishwater blond hair. > > That’s some serious miracle workin’ those US evangelical artists are doin’. > > The scholars can’t tell us what skin color, face shape, and hair type Jesus was, but they can tell us a few that he definitely wasn’t. One of which is white, with northern European features and dishwater blond gently wavy hair. Well… here is a picture of a [Druze man from South Syria](https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3167/2509940349_db71f6c200_b.jpg), not far from where Jesus was from. Its uncommon, but light skinned and dishwater blond is within the range of phenotypes found in the region. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-bible-state-that-the-earth-is-spherical/746893.md?page=3)