Question: If the Bible is God’s revelation, does that mean its descriptions of the natural world are also scientifically revealed? Must they agree with modern science—or even anticipate discoveries beyond it?
Answer: What kind of book is the Bible? To understand it, we need to consider both what Scripture claims and how its texts actually communicate. Readers of the earlier articles in this series will probably anticipate my answer: the Bible describes the world through the conceptual frameworks available to its ancient writers and first readers.
Why would God need to communicate his message through scientific concepts his first readers could not understand? The message concerns who God is, his relationship with humanity and creation, sin and judgement, salvation and redemption. God inspired human authors rather than bypassing their minds. We should therefore expect their descriptions of the natural world to belong to their historical settings.
“Scientific outlook” is a convenient expression here, but worldview is more accurate. Ancient observation and reflection on nature existed, but the biblical authors were not working within the methods and categories of modern science.
1. Ancient descriptions of the earth
Biblical descriptions of the earth share imagery familiar from the ancient Near East: the earth spread out beneath the sky, established on foundations, with the realm of the dead below. We must also attend to genre. Poetry and visions do not function as technical diagrams, and no single metaphor should bear the weight of reconstructing an author’s entire cosmology.
1.1 The “circle of the earth”
Some young-earth creationist interpreters appeal to Isaiah 40:22 and Job 26:10 as evidence that Scripture revealed a spherical earth long before modern science:
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
Isaiah 40:22 (ESV)
10 He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
Job 26:10 (ESV)
The language of a circle or circular boundary does not, by itself, assert a three-dimensional sphere. These verses should not be treated as predictions of modern planetary science. Nor does the word “circle” alone settle every question about the author’s mental picture. Isaiah’s emphasis is God’s greatness over the earth and its inhabitants.
Consider also Matthew 4:8–9 and Revelation 1:7:
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
Matthew 4:8–9 (ESV)
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Revelation 1:7 (ESV)
These passages speak of seeing all kingdoms or of every eye seeing Christ. They are not descriptions of the optical limits of a telescope on a mountain. A temptation narrative and an apocalyptic proclamation should not be used as independent proof that their authors believed in a flat earth. Their language is nevertheless a useful reminder that Scripture is not written as a modern scientific treatise.
1.2 An established, unshakable earth
From ordinary observation, the ground seems still while the sun, moon, and stars move overhead. Biblical poetry repeatedly speaks of the earth’s stability:
30 tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
1 Chronicles 16:30 (ESV)
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity."
Psalm 96:10 (ESV)
1 The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
Psalm 93:1 (ESV)
5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.
Psalm 104:5 (ESV)
These descriptions belong to an ancient picture of an ordered world established by God. Their immediate purpose is to praise his reign and sustaining power. “It shall never be moved” should not automatically be turned into a technical denial of the earth’s rotation or orbit: being unshaken can also express stability and security.
1.3 The earth’s foundations and pillars
Job 26:7 is sometimes read as a prediction of the earth suspended in outer space:
7 He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.
Job 26:7 (ESV)
The Hebrew word translated “earth” can mean earth, land, or ground; it does not itself specify a planet viewed from space. The verse praises God’s power, and its imagery should be read alongside the poem’s other descriptions. Elsewhere we find pillars, foundations, and a cornerstone:
6 who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;
Job 9:6 (ESV)
6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
Job 38:6 (ESV)
8 He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world.
1 Samuel 2:8 (ESV)
3 When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah
Psalm 75:3 (ESV)
4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
Job 38:4 (ESV)
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Psalm 82:5 (ESV)
10 And, "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;
Hebrews 1:10 (ESV)
The sea and the world’s foundations appear together in other poetic descriptions:
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
Psalm 18:15 (ESV)
16 Then the channels of the sea were seen; the foundations of the world were laid bare, at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
2 Samuel 22:16 (ESV)
An interpretation in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges that reads Job 26:7 in relation to the visible space between earth and the northern heavens. That is an interpretation of the poem, not a conclusive demonstration of its physical model. The safer conclusion is that neither this verse nor the foundation imagery should be isolated and converted into a modern account of gravity or planetary structure.
1.4 The realm of the dead below
The realm of the dead is described through the spatial language of depth and descent:
33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
Numbers 16:33 (ESV)
22 For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Deuteronomy 32:22 (ESV)
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Psalm 86:13 (ESV)
2 "If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
Amos 9:2 (ESV)
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Philippians 2:10 (ESV)
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"
Revelation 5:13 (ESV)
23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Matthew 11:23 (ESV)
This is ancient language about death, divine judgement, and the reach of God’s authority. It should not be read as a claim that geological exploration will locate Sheol inside the earth. Nor should spatial imagery alone be made to decide every theological question about the state of the dead.
2. Ancient descriptions of the heavens
2.1 The sky or firmament
Biblical descriptions of the heavens likewise use ancient imagery:
18 Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?
Job 37:18 (ESV)
11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke.
Job 26:11 (ESV)
1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Psalm 19:1–6 (ESV)
Job compares the sky to a strong cast metal mirror and speaks of heaven’s pillars. The psalm depicts the sun’s daily course and its tent in the heavens. Such descriptions should be heard in their ancient literary setting, rather than translated into atmospheric physics or a modern astronomical diagram.
2.2 Waters above the heavens
Genesis describes an expanse separating waters below from waters above:
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
Genesis 1:6–8 (ESV)
The ESV uses “expanse”; other translations use “firmament.” The Chinese Union Version’s rendering as “air” can encourage a modern atmospheric reading that should not simply be assumed.
Other passages also speak of waters above and windows of heaven:
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. 3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;
Psalm 104:2–3 (ESV)
4 Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Psalm 148:4 (ESV)
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.
Genesis 7:11 (ESV)
Taken together, these images belong to an ancient conceptual world in which waters above the inhabited earth formed part of the order God established. Genesis teaches that God orders creation; it does not explain the modern hydrological cycle.
2.3 Sun, moon, and stars in the heavens
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
Genesis 1:14–19 (ESV)
The lights mark days, years, and appointed times, giving light upon the earth. They are placed within the heavens as the account describes them.
Other passages describe falling stars, the heavens rolled up, an opened heaven, or heaven being shaken:
29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Matthew 24:29 (ESV)
4 All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.
Isaiah 34:4 (ESV)
51 And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
John 1:51 (ESV)
26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."
Hebrews 12:26 (ESV)
This language is theological, prophetic, and visionary. Isaiah and Matthew’s imagery of cosmic disruption is particularly unsuitable for being treated as literal descriptions of modern stars colliding with the earth.
Historical illustrations and modern reconstructions can help readers picture older cosmologies, but they need careful captions. A later illustration is evidence of its own context, and a modern reconstruction is an interpretive aid. Neither should be presented as a photograph of what every biblical author believed.
3. Ancient descriptions of living things
Biblical classifications of living things also differ from modern biological taxonomy.
Bats among flying creatures
13 "And these you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 14 the kite, the falcon of any kind, 15 every raven of any kind, 16 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl, 18 the barn owl, the tawny owl, the carrion vulture, 19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
Leviticus 11:13–19 (ESV)
The list groups bats with creatures commonly translated as “birds.” Modern zoology classifies bats as mammals. An ancient category organised around flying creatures need not correspond to the categories of modern taxonomy; the passage’s concern is which creatures Israel may eat.
The hare and chewing the cud
6 And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.
Leviticus 11:6 (ESV)
The hare is described through an ancient classification associated with its feeding behaviour. We should not assume that this amounts to a modern account of a ruminant digestive system.
Creatures “according to their kinds”
21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:21 (ESV)
“Kinds” belongs to the creation account’s own classification language. It should not automatically be equated with a modern species, genus, or another fixed taxonomic rank.
The mustard seed
31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth,
Mark 4:31 (ESV)
Jesus uses a familiar small seed to illustrate the contrast between a small beginning and substantial growth. The parable does not set out to catalogue every seed in the world. Its force does not depend on the mustard seed being the smallest seed known to modern botany.
A seed that “dies”
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12:24 (ESV)
36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
1 Corinthians 15:36 (ESV)
A seed rendered nonviable cannot germinate. These passages nevertheless use “death” meaningfully as an analogy for a transition to fruitful life. Jesus speaks about his death and its fruit; Paul addresses resurrection. The metaphor should not be treated as a proposed biological mechanism—or as sufficient evidence, by itself, of a mistaken theory of germination.
4. Ancient language about reproduction
Scripture uses the familiar language of seed, ancestry, barrenness, and the fruit of the womb:
32 This is the law for him who has a discharge and for him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby;
Leviticus 15:32 (ESV)
The ESV uses “semen” here. The older English rendering “seed” preserves the agricultural language associated with the term. This vocabulary is different from a modern explanation involving sperm and egg.
Hebrews describes Levi as being in his ancestor Abraham’s loins:
9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
Hebrews 7:9–10 (ESV)
Levi was Jacob and Leah’s son, while Abraham was Jacob’s grandfather. The argument presents Levi as participating through his ancestor in Abraham’s payment of tithes. Reading modern DNA science into this passage would miss its argument. However, ancestral representation also means that it cannot, by itself, prove that the author thought a mother contributed nothing biologically.
30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Genesis 11:30 (ESV)
The narrative describes Sarai as barren. Modern reproductive science recognises that infertility can involve either partner. The narrative’s description of Sarai should not be made into a universal medical claim that infertility always originates with women.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Psalm 127:3 (ESV)
42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
Luke 1:42 (ESV)
“The fruit of the womb” is meaningful agricultural imagery. It celebrates a child as a blessing; it does not explain the mechanism of conception. This language can be compared with ancient seed-and-soil accounts of reproduction. That comparison may illuminate a cultural setting, but metaphors alone are insufficient to establish a complete reproductive theory.
Conclusion
The Bible’s descriptions of nature belong to its ancient literary and cultural settings. Its purpose is not to teach its first readers modern science or to conceal scientific discoveries for later readers to decode.
The distinction matters. A description framed through an ancient worldview should not automatically be treated as a competing modern scientific explanation. At the same time, saying “the Bible is not a science textbook” does not remove the need to interpret difficult passages carefully. We must distinguish what a passage affirms from the imagery and conceptual framework through which it affirms it.
Ancient observers could recognise the greatness of God’s creation without modern instruments:
1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1 (ESV)
Does science make God seem smaller? I think the opposite. Studying creation reveals a world far larger and more complex than ordinary observation suggests. The earth belongs to the solar system; our solar system lies within the Milky Way; and the Milky Way is only one galaxy among many. Scientific investigation can deepen our appreciation of the creation we confess to be God’s work.
Christians therefore need not fear investigation of the natural world. We should also resist forcing modern scientific meanings onto ancient texts in an attempt to defend them. Scripture is fully reliable for the purposes God intends it to fulfil: leading us into salvation through Christ and equipping us for faithful living.
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:15–17 (ESV)
Further reading
- Robert J. Schneider, “Does the Bible Teach a Spherical Earth?”, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 53 (2001), 159–169.
- Craig S. Keener and John H. Walton, NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture.
- John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible.
- John H. Walton and D. Brent Sandy, The Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and Biblical Authority.
- Gordon J. Glover, Beyond the Firmament: Understanding Science and the Theology of Creation.
- Denis O. Lamoureux, Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution; Evolution: Scripture and Nature Say Yes.
- Francis S. Collins, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.
More in this series
- About the Bible (1)
- About the Bible (2)
- About the Bible (3): How Did God Inspire Scripture?
- About the Bible (5)
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.