myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Job 26:7, 12–13

The earth over nothing; the fleeing serpent

"He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." The versions agree. In 26:13 the "crooked serpent" is nahash bariah, the "fleeing serpent" of Isaiah 27:1 and Ugaritic Lotan.

Read Job 26:7, 12–13 in every edition

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JobPoem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Job
Aramaic
    Greek and its daughters
    1. Sahidic Coptic JobTranslated c. 3rd–4th century AD from the pre-Origen GreekTranslated from the shorter Old Greek
    2. Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)Printed Septuagint; translated 1872Translated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen
    Latin
    1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 390s, from HebrewTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
    English
    1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    Every witness, in order

    1. Poem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)

      Original Job

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. Small Hebrew fragments of Job are known from Qumran (2Q15, 4Q99–101).

    2. Translated c. 3rd–4th century AD from the pre-Origen Greek

      Sahidic Coptic Job

      ✕ Passage not in this witnessTranslated from the shorter Old Greek

      How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    3. c. AD 390s, from Hebrew

      Jerome's Vulgate

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Qui extendit aquilonem super vacuum, et appendit terram super nihilum.

    4. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Job

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      נֹטֶ֣ה צָפ֣וֹן עַל־תֹּ֑הוּ תֹּ֥לֶה אֶ֝֗רֶץ עַל־בְּלִי־מָֽה׃

    5. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

    6. Printed Septuagint; translated 1872

      Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Il a étendu le septentrion sur le vide; il a suspendu la terre sur le néant.

      Greek via Giguet's French (filled-out printed text); not checked against Ziegler's critical edition.

    What changed, and why

    Within the poem the line praises God's power in the ancient picture of the world (pillars of heaven, a circle on the waters, Sheol beneath). It is poetry, not a modern astronomical claim. The library's Sahidic Coptic lacks 26:5–11, 13–14.

    What the evidence shows

    • DisputedJob 26:7 is a scientific statement. Poetic cosmology.
    • Independently documented26:13's serpent phrase matches Isaiah 27:1 and the Ugaritic Lotan text.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • He Hangeth the Earth upon Nothing →Job mocks Bildad's help. Then comes a hymn to God's power: the shades tremble beneath the waters, Sheol is naked before him, he stretches the north over emptiness and hangs the earth upon nothing, binds water in clouds, sets a circle on the waters at the boundary of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble; by his power he stilled the sea, by his understanding struck Rahab; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. "Lo, these are parts of his ways… but the thunder of his power who can understand?"