Job 26:7
He stretched out the north over the empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
Open Job 26:7 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Qui extendit aquilonem super vacuum, et appendit terram super nihilum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐκτείνων βορέαν ἐπ᾽ οὐδέν, κρεμάζων γῆν ἐπὶ οὐδενός.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- נֹטֶ֣ה צָפ֣וֹן עַל תֹּ֑הוּ תֹּ֥לֶה אֶ֝֗רֶץ עַל בְּלִי מָֽה
Haydock's commentary
North pole, which alone was visible in Idumea, and continued unmoved, while all the stars performed their revolutions. (Calmet)
Nothing. Terra, pilæ similis, nullo fulcimine nixa. (Ovid, Fast, vi.) (Calmet)
All tends to the centre, (Menochius) by the laws of attraction. (Newton, &c.) (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch, Homily IX
8. And who is there that must not feel astonished and amazed at these things; and confidently pronounce that they are not the works of nature, but of that Providence which is above nature? Therefore one speaks thus: “Who hangeth the earth upon nothing.” And another observes, “In His hands are the corners of the earth.” And again: “He hath laid the foundation of it upon the seas.” And these declarations, though they seem contrary to one another, have yet an entire agreement. For he that said, “He hath laid the foundation of it upon the seas,” meant the same thing as he did who declared, “He hath hung it upon nothing.” For its standing upon the waters is just the same thing as hanging upon nothing. …
St Gregory of Nyssa Answer to Eunomius' Second Book
But since the nature of most things that are seen in Creation is not simple, so as to allow of all that they connote being comprehended in one word, as, for instance, in the case of fire, the element itself is one thing in its nature, while the word which denotes it is another (for fire itself possesses the qualities of shining, of burning, of drying and heating, and consuming whatever fuel it lays hold of, but the name is but a brief word of one syllable), on this account speech, which distinguishes the powers and qualities seen in fire, gives each of them a name of its own, as I have said before. And one cannot say that only a name has been given to fire when it is spoken of as bright, or consuming, or anything else that we observe it to be. For such words denote qualities physically inherent in it. …
St John Damascene An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Concerning earth and its products
The earth is one of the four elements, dry, cold, heavy, motionless, brought into being by God, out of nothing on the first day. For in the beginning , he said, God created the heaven and the earth : but the seat and foundation of the earth no man has been able to declare. Some, indeed, hold that its seat is the waters: thus the divine David says, To Him Who established the earth on the waters . Others place it in the air. Again some other says, He Who hangeth the earth on nothing . And, again, David, the singer of God, says, as though the representative of God, I bear up the pillars of it , meaning by “pillars” the force that sustains it. Further, the expression, He hath founded it upon the seas , shews clearly that the earth is on all hands surrounded with water. …