Does the Bible say the earth is a globe?

Question

I heard someone say the Bible says the earth is round (as opposed to flat). I'm assuming they mean round like a sphere not round like a coin.

Give quotes and references please. Thanks

The story of the sun standing still so Israel could defeat their enemy sounds more consistant with a flat earth.

I'll add to the question--if there is anywhere in the Bible that says the Earth is flat--give quote and reference to that too :)

The person who mentioned the verse that says "the sphere of the earth", what version of the Bible is that? I remember that as "the circle of the earth" not sphere.

In response to Hyzakyt's comment about NASA finding Joshua's missing day:
ITS AN URBAN LEGEND!
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970325g.html

Ok, you mentioned the Urban legend. :)

As an aside, it was when I had credulously believed this story as a teen that my sister graciously pointed out my error and told me about urban legends. Now, back to the topic . . .

Answer 1

The Bible is an ancient book that spoke to the people of it's times in ways they understood. When the Scriptures were written nobody thought the world was round. God had no need to school them in this area, since this is irrelevant to his purposes, which have to do with the heart and lives of humans.

i believe whoever told you this was sincerely mistaken. The bible speaks of the Four Corners of the Earth, which implies a square. It also speaks of the "ends of the earth" in a metaphorical way, but a way, no doubt, that the people of the time understood as meaning the earth had ends or edges.

i don't see this as a mistake. God speaks to us in spite of our misunderstandings and uses conceptions that we can understand and relate to. His purpose is to change our hearts, not our geography.

Answer 2

The earth is round
Consider Isaiah 40:22 which mentions the “circle of the earth.” This description is certainly fitting—particularly when the earth is viewed from space; the earth always appears as a circle, since it is round.

Curiously, many astronomy textbooks credit Pythagoras (c. 570–500 B.C.) with being the first person to assert that the earth is round. However, Isaiah is generally acknowledged to have been written in the 700s B.C.

The secular astronomers before the time of Pythagoras must have thought the Bible was wrong about its teaching of a round earth, yet the Bible was exactly right.





“NASA computers, in calculating the positions of planets, found a missing day and 40 minutes, proving Joshua’s “long day” [Joshua 10] and Hezekiah’s sundial movement [2 Kings 20].”
Though this story is not promoted by major creationist organizations, it is a hoax in wide circulation, especially on the internet.

Essentially the same story appeared in the somewhat unreliable 1936 book The Harmony of Science and Scripture by Harry Rimmer. Evidently an unknown person embellished it with modern organization names and modern calculating devices.

Also, the whole story is mathematically impossible—it requires a fixed reference point before Joshua’s long day. In fact, we would need to cross-check between both astronomical and historical records to detect any missing day. And to detect a missing 40 minutes requires that these reference points be known to within an accuracy of a few minutes. It is certainly true that the timing of solar eclipses observable from a certain location can be known precisely. But the ancient records did not record time that precisely, so the required cross-check is simply not possible. Furthermore, the earliest historically recorded eclipse occurred in 1217 BC, nearly two centuries after Joshua. So there is no way the missing day could be detected by any computer. See also Has NASA Discovered a “Missing Day”? for historical and scientific documentation that this alleged discovery is mythological.

(Note that discrediting this myth doesn’t mean that the events of Joshua 10 didn’t happen. Features in the account support its reliability—for example, that the moon was also slowed down. This was not necessary to prolong the day, but this would be observed from Earth’s reference frame if God had accomplished this miracle by slowing Earth’s rotation. See Joshua’s long day.)

Answer 3

Scientific Accuracies in the Bible
1). The spherical shape of the earth, Isaiah 40:22.
2). The earth is suspended in nothing, Job 26:7.
3). The stars are innumerable, Gen 15:5.
4). The existence of valleys in the seas, 2 Sam 22:16.
5). The existence of springs and fountains in the sea, Gen 7:11; 8:2 Prov 8:28.
6). The existence of water paths (ocean currents) in the seas Psalm 8:8.
7). The water cycle, Job 26:8; 36:27-28; 37:16; 38:25-27; Ps 135:7; Ecc 1:6-7.
8). The fact that all living things reproduce after their own kind, Gen 1:21; 6:19.
9). The nature of health, sanitation, and sickness, Gen 17:9-14; Lev 12-14.
10). The concept of entropy, that energy is running down, Psalm 102:26. Isa 51:6. Heb 1:10-11
Scientists have found something they call a "force" which holds atoms together and keeps them from exploding. Colossians 1:17

Answer 4

yes. The Bible says,"The circle of the earth." Look it up in an exhaustive concordance. sorry don't have the exact quotation.
One interesting note: I cant understand why the flat earth theory was debated so long, because during a lunar eclipse, you can see the earths shadow and see that the earth is round. Things that make you go hmmmmm.....

Answer 5

The Babylonains had a model of the earth that was round like a coin. The ancient Hebrews got their model from the Babylonians, so thought of the earth as round like a coin.

Answer 6

"It is He who sits above the sphere of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers [etc.]" Isaiah 40:22

the Bible even describes dinosaurs..read Job 40:15-24

Answer 7

Not so!! Ask that person for the quote and I bet he can't. Never said anything about it being round or flat. Not in there.

Answer 8

No, but it doesn't say it is flat either.

Answer 9

cause maybe god begame a g Lob. e