Where does the Bible say the Earth is spherical?

[Telstra Robs]

Hi,

I'm looking for an explanation as to where and how the Bible says the Earth is spherical. I know that because a spherical Earth was known during antiquity that it is likely that the Bible does speak of the spherical Earth, but I'm not sure how. The words I've seen used are circle and circuit.

Is it because of the fact that the Earth, from space, looks circular on the background of space? Or was circle incorrectly translated or something?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Telstra Robs

[A Y323]

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.
Isaiah 40:22

That's the only verse I found with a quick search, other than Job 26:10, but that depends on the translation used. The NKJV says:
He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness.

I don't think Isaiah was trying to make a statement about the shape of the earth at all. And yet I've seen this verse used by Christians to claim that the Bible says the earth is spherical, and I've seen it used by atheists to claim that the Bible says the earth is flat. The point is that God is master of the heavens.

[Canuckster1127]

The verses given above are the only two I know of either and frankly, I think it's a stretch to draw from them that the Bible addresses the issue of whether the earth itself is spherical. There are other passages that are written from the perspective of the surface of the earth that some took with statements that the sun moves relative to the earth and then made geocentrism an issue.

From the perspective of a simple observer, the sun does appear to move across the sky. We know now that that is because the earth is rotating and moving around the sun.

At the time the Bible was written most of thesse statements were not intended to be understood in the sense of 21st century scientific percission. There's room for understanding the perspectival elements of the writers and the hearers in the context of what they were trying to say or illustrate and to not seek to stretch the Bible beyond what it is actually saying.

Everything in the Bible is true, but not all truth is in the Bible. What it doesn't address, it doesn't address.