What does the Bible say about the earth orbiting the sun?

Bible Topic · WEB

The Bible teaches that God created, sustains, and sovereignly governs the heavens and the earth, but it does not set out a modern astronomical model of planetary motion. Genesis 1:1-31 proclaims God as Creator, while Job 26:7 poetically says he hangs the earth on nothing. Psalms 104:5 and Psalms 93:1 speak of the earth as established and secure, expressing God's faithful providence rather than defining its physical mechanics. Joshua 10:13 and Isaiah 38:8 describe miraculous signs in ordinary observational language. Christians may therefore receive the scientific account of the earth's orbit as a study of God's creation, while refusing to make Scripture say more than its God-given purpose intends.

Top passages, ranked by readers

Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible

  • Job 26:7

    He stretches out the north over empty space, And hangs the earth on nothing.

  • Isaiah 40:22

    [It is] he who sits above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants of it are as grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in;

  • Psalms 104:5

    He laid the foundations of the earth, That it should not be moved forever.

  • Isaiah 38:8

    behold, I will cause the shadow on the steps, which is gone down on the dial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the dial whereon it was gone down.

  • Joshua 10:13

    The sun stood still, and the moon stayed, Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Isn't this written in the book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the midst of the sky, and didn't hurry to go down about a whole day.

  • Job 9:7

    Who commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, And seals up the stars;

  • Psalms 93:1

    Yahweh reigns! He is clothed with majesty! Yahweh is armed with strength. The world also is established. It can't be moved.

  • Job 26:10

    He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, And to the confines of light and darkness.

  • 1 Chronicles 16:30

    Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is established that it can't be moved.

  • Genesis 1:1-31

    [1] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [2] Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. [3] God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. [4] God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. [5] God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening and there was morning, one day. [6] God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." [7] God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so. [8] God called the expanse sky. There was evening and there was morning, a second day. [9] God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear," and it was so. [10] God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. God saw that it was good. [11] God said, "Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth," and it was so. [12] The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. [13] There was evening and there was morning, a third day. [14] God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; [15] and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth," and it was so. [16] God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. [17] God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, [18] and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. [19] There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. [20] God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky." [21] God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. [22] God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." [23] There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. [24] God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind," and it was so. [25] God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. [26] God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." [27] God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them. [28] God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." [29] God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. [30] To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food." And it was so. [31] God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

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