He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The Earth has four corners and ends.
Astronomy
47
passages in this field
Show this passage in
The cited passage
After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.
What current science says
Earth is a sphere (slightly flattened at the poles). It has no corners or edges. We've known Earth was round for over 2,000 years from ship observations, lunar eclipse shadows, and now satellite photos. You can even prove it yourself by watching ships disappear over the horizon.
What the text says
Isaiah 11:12 refers to gathering the dispersed 'from the four corners of the earth,' and Revelation 7:1 places angels 'on the four corners of the earth' - language that pictures the earth as a flat, four-cornered expanse.
Three honest ways to read this passage
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.