Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
The Earth has a measurable length — implying it is longer in one direction than another.
Astronomy
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The cited passage
What current science says
Earth is an oblate spheroid — it's slightly wider at the equator than pole-to-pole, but it doesn't have a 'length' the way a table does. You can measure its circumference (about 40,075 km at the equator) or its diameter (about 12,742 km), but asking 'how long is the Earth?' is like asking 'how long is a basketball?' The phrasing only works if you think the Earth is a flat, elongated surface — which was actually the common ancient Near Eastern cosmology, imagining the earth as a flat disk or rectangle floating on water.
What the text says
This comes from Job 11:9. The text says something's 'measure is longer than the earth,' implying the Earth has a linear length — a description that makes sense for a flat rectangle but not a sphere.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.