Does the Bible teach that the earth is flat?

Response

Many skeptics claim that the Bible portrays a flat earth. They refer to scriptural passages like Revelation 7:1, which mentions “four angels standing at the four corners of the earth.” Critics also highlight Psalm 75:3, where God is described as holding “the pillars” of the earth steady. Other verses they point to as supporting a flat earth theory include Deuteronomy 13:7, Job 28:24, Psalm 48:10, and Proverbs 30:4, all of which mention the “ends” of the earth. Are these critics accurate? Does the Bible oppose science by suggesting that the earth is flat?

In reality, the Bible does not provide a definitive statement on the shape of the Earth. It neither confirms a flat earth nor asserts a spherical one. Let’s examine some of the frequently cited passages that are interpreted as supporting a flat earth:

Revelation 7:1 states, “I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth.” In this context, the apostle John used idiomatic language—the “four corners of the earth” symbolize “every distant location.” This idiom is still used today; for instance, when we mention Olympic athletes coming from the four corners of the earth to participate in the games, we mean they come from all over the world.

The book of Revelation contains symbolic language and non-literal descriptions. Interpreting Revelation 7:1 hyper-literally is not logical. John simply conveys that, at a certain point during the tribulation, God will halt all wind. The “four corners” represent the cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west. All wind will cease by God’s decree.

Psalm 75:3 records God saying, “When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its p

“Pillars firm.” Other passages also refer to the earth’s “pillars,” such as 1 Samuel 2:8, but in no case should the language be taken literally. The book of Psalms and Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2 are poetry. The writers liken the founding of the earth to the constructing of a house, and their descriptions are comparative (i.e., metaphorical), not literal. The point is not that the earth is flat but that the earth belongs to God; it is His construction, and He guarantees its stability. God’s “pillars” will not move, and His “roof” will not cave in. Even when the moral order of the world seems to have crumbled and people are overcome with fear, God will not fully withdraw His sustaining power.

What about the Bible’s references to the “ends of the earth” in Deuteronomy 13:7; Job 28:24; Psalm 48:10; Proverbs 30:4; and other passages? Does a reference to the “ends” of the earth teach that the earth has an edge and is therefore flat? We’ll take Deuteronomy 13:7 as representative of all the passages: here, Moses warns the people of “the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other” (ESV).

A couple of things can be said about the phrase the ends of the earth to show that it does not refer to a flat earth. First, that phrase, like the four corners of the earth, is idiomatic. We don’t expect people to take us literally when we speak of going “back to the drawing board”; neither should we force a literal interpretation on “the ends of the earth.” When biblical writers speak of the “ends of the earth” (28 times in the KJV), they are simply referring to “the farthest reaches of the inhabited world.”

Second, the phrase the ends of the earth at times refers to people, not to land. For example, Psalm 67:7 says, “May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.” In this verse, the ends of the earth reference the people who inhabit remote and distant places see also Psalm 98:3 and Isaiah 45:22. Obviously, in this context, the ends of the earth are symbolic of the people inhabiting those far-off regions.In context, the phrase is metaphorical and cannot be used to depict the Earth as having a physical edge. The same phrase, used elsewhere, should also be considered figurative.

The Bible does not teach that the Earth is flat. The references to the “Earth” in the Bible are often not references to the planetary Earth but to a portion of dry land bound by water. For example, Genesis 1:10 says, “God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas” (ESV). “Earth” is mentioned as distinct from “Seas” and cannot refer to Earth as a planet; the same Hebrew word for “Earth” is used in Deuteronomy 13:7 and the other passages listed above.

While the Bible does not teach that the Earth is flat, neither does the Bible explicitly teach that the Earth is spherical. Some passages do allow for a spherical Earth, such as Job 26:7 and Isaiah 40:22. Job 26:10 makes reference to God’s drawing “a circular horizon . . . at the boundary of light and darkness” (NKJV), a description suggesting two hemispheres. In any event, the Bible is far from affirming a naive or unscientific understanding of the Earth and the solar system. There is simply no basis for the charge that the Bible teaches a flat Earth. Passages that seem to present a flat Earth can all be explained when correctly understood.