He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
Parallel translations
- WEB He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.
- KJV He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
- NKJV He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.
- NASB “He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing.
- NLT God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God stretches the heavens over emptiness and hangs the earth on nothing. It matters because it marvels at God's creative power sustaining the cosmos.
Overview
Job declares that God spreads the northern sky over empty space and suspends the earth upon nothing. This striking statement reflects awe at God's effortless upholding of creation. Scripture elsewhere affirms that Christ upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3), the same Creator at work here.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Job 9:8He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
- Ps 104:2–5He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,
- Isa 40:22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
- Isa 42:5This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:
- Prov 8:23–27From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the earth began.
- Gen 1:1–2In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Ps 24:2For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
- Isa 40:26Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 26:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.