Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still on Gibeon! You, moon, stop in the valley of Aijalon!” 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 middle of the sky, and didn’t hurry to go down about a whole day.
The sun can stop moving across the sky for about a day.
Astronomy
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The cited passage
What current science says
The sun doesn't actually move across the sky - Earth rotates. For the sun to 'stand still,' Earth would have to stop rotating. This would require an impossible amount of energy and would be catastrophic - the atmosphere and oceans would keep moving at over 1,000 mph, creating planet-wide destruction.
What the text says
Joshua 10:12-13 describes God making the sun stand still so that Joshua could finish the battle before dark - implying the sun halted its motion across the sky for about a day.
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.