Why does the Bible refer to the "four corners of the earth"?

Question

It teaches that the earth is square.

Answer 1

Actually, most people knew back then that the earth was NOT flat. The idea that people thought the earth was flat is a myth that wasn't even introduced until the 17th or 18th century.

Anyway, the word that translated into "corners" was, in Hebrew, כּנף, or kânâph, which literally means a WING. In other words, a direction.

The NIV has kânâph translated as "quarters", and that's actually a more accurate translation.

Answer 2

for people who stated isiah 40:22 proves the earth is around, BS! before everything, a circle isn't a ball or sphere or an egg-formed merchandise. A circle is a flat around floor, comparable to flat rectangular, or sq., or triangular surfaces. So if the Bible claims that the Earth is a circle, then this remains bogus as a results of fact the earth is obviously no longer a flat floor. we've 2 circumstances right here: a million- Isaiah 40:22 is claiming that the Earth is a flat circle. 2- Isaiah 40:22 is claiming that the Earth has a circle above it. If we've been to take situation #a million, then we are left with a sparkling and irrefutable contradiction between Isaiah 40:22 and a variety of of different of the Bible's verses that reported corners of the earth, as a results of fact a flat circle does not have "4 corners", and satirically in the two case, we nevertheless have a scientifically fake declare suitable to the Earth's shape. IF we've been to take situation #2, then it does not tutor that the Earth is an egg-formed parent, and Isaiah 40:22 actually will become irrelevant to this concern. one element is for valuable sparkling, and that's Isaiah 40:22 is obviously ambiguous and not sparkling if we prefer to tutor from it that the Earth isn't flat and is egg-formed. If we seem at what the comprehensive Bible says suitable to the form of the Earth as a results of fact the Roman Catholic Church did interior the previous, then we'd attain the comparable end they reached, and that's: The Earth is Flat!

Answer 3

Actually, the Bible somewhere mentions the "circle of the earth," so it doesn't teach that the earth is square.

"Four corners of the earth" is simply a metaphor for "the entire earth."

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Answer 4

" It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:" Isaiah 40: 22

They knew back in the Old Testament that the earth was round.

"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

The book of Revelation is written in a symbolic language. Certainly you don't believe that there are 4 winds of the earth too?

Answer 5

North, South, East, and West are still considered the four corners of the Earth. Everyone knows this is purely a figurative metaphor....now you do too.

Answer 6

Nope. The four corners are in reference to Jerusalem which is the center of God's World.

Answer 7

At the time the Bible was written, people really did think the Earth was flat.

Answer 8

yes, you think the world is something other than a square. Thats heretical, other things you may be confused about include..... Dinosaurs did walk around with adam and eve, all the water disappeared miraculously after the flood.

Answer 9

Well technically, with "four corners", it would have to be a triangular prism, since the earth IS three-dimensional, right?

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dtriangle%2Bprism%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26b%3D21&w=500&h=400&imgurl=static.flickr.com%2F127%2F321266393_e02028338d_m.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F58602794%40N00%2F321266393%2F&size=61.1kB&name=321266393_e02028338d.jpg&p=triangle+prism&type=jpeg&no=32&tt=153&oid=cb15f61f33c67592&fusr=MatthewLever&tit=chromaticaberration&hurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/58602794@N00/&ei=UTF-8&src=p

Answer 10

That was in the old testament. Jesus changed all that and made the earth spherical.