While the terms "corners" and "ends" are applied to the earth, these are generally taken as metaphors. The notion that the earth was flat does not explicitly appear in the Bible. There is one reference to the world being "hung in the void" or some words to that effect... I will update this post with the reference and correct the quote when I have time to chase it down. There is no significant evidence that science in general or the earth sciences were even considered by (or known to) the writers of the Bible and it probably would not have occurred to them to examine their writing that way any more than I would consider that my use of the word "sunrise" might indicate belief that the sun actually goes up and down while the earth remains fixed.

In Isaiah 40:22 it says God sits on the circle of the earth, and the word used there means circle, circuit, or compass, suggesting a sphere rather than a flat object. The same word for circle is used in Proverbs 8:27 in reference to the creation of the world. The reference to the earth being suspended in space is found in Job 26:7, which says "He stretches the north over the empty place, and hangs the earth upon nothing." While those reading the Bible long ago may have gotten the idea of a flat earth, we can now understand that our north pole is indeed near the ends of the earth and the earth does indeed rest on nothing. I strongly suggest this site, which is excellent: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c015.html Here's a lengthy quote from it: ======================================================================================================== The circle on the face of the waters is one of the proofs that the Greeks used for a spherical earth. Yet here it is recorded in Job, ages before the Greeks discovered it. Job 26:10 indicates that where light terminates, darkness begins. This suggests day and night on a spherical globe. [JSM] The Hebrew record is the oldest, because Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible. Historians generally [wrongly] credit the Greeks with being the first to suggest a spherical earth. In the sixth century B.C., Pythagoras suggested a spherical earth. [JSM] Eratosthenes of Alexandria (circa 276 to 194 or 192 B.C.) calcuated the circumference of the earth "within 50 miles of the present estimate." [Encyclopedia Brittanica] The Greeks also drew meridians and parallels. They identified such areas as the poles, equator, and tropics. This spherical earth concept did not prevail; the Romans drew the earth as a flat disk with oceans around it. [JSM] The round shape of our planet was a conclusion easily drawn by watching ships disappear over the horizon and also by observing eclipse shadows, and we can assume that such information was well known to New Testament writers. Earth's spherical shape was, of course, also understood by Christopher Columbus. [DD] The implication of a round earth is seen in the book of Luke, where Jesus described his return, Luke 17:31. Jesus said, "In that day," then in verse 34, "In that night." This is an allusion to light on one side of the globe and darkness on the other simultaneously. [JSM] ========================================================================================================

I believe that they did think that the Earth was Flat and that Jesus thought so too. In the Gospels, Jesus and Satan go up a very high mountain and look down on all the Earths surface. It is only possible to see all of the Earths surface from one point, if the Earth is flat.

Do you realize that the Bible writers probably didn't even know there were other countries outside of theirs?

Isaiah does not refer to a spherical Earth.Her refers to a flat circular one that is tent shaped.

Here is what Job thought the World looked like.

Yes they did.I tried to tell them otherwise, but they would not listen to me.

They probably didn't think about it much one way or the other. Their important belief was that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that by faith in Him we have eternal life. Still, I suppose a flat earth worldview was prevalent at that time.

They likely didn't give it much thought either way. One can consider the whole of the land without knowing what shape it is just as one can breathe air without knowing that it is made up of nitrogen and oxygen.

They had no idea about any form of basic science. That's why it's just a story book and God does not exist.

No they did not. In fact, about 2,700 years ago, the Bible said: “There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth, the dwellers in which are as grasshoppers.” (Isaiah 40:22) The Hebrew word chugh, translated “circle,” can also mean “sphere,” as such reference works as Davidson’s Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon show. Other translations, therefore, say “the globe of the earth” (Douay Version), and “the round earth.” (Moffatt) Thus the Bible was not influenced by the erroneous, flat-earth view prevalent when it was written. It was accurate.

I have not seen a scripture that would lead me to believe that, no more than I have seen a scripture that says that people are literally grasshoppers. Until I found AB, I have never heard anyone say that the Bible says that the world is flat. The scripture they used was Is 40:22, talks about the one who sits above the circle of the earth, the inhabitants of which are as grasshoppers. The context shows that that is the way the earth would look from high above the earth, like in heaven, no matter where in the sky you are or which rotation the earth is on, nothing but a sphere would have a circular shape from every angle. Just like people could be compared to grasshoppers or ants from up there. Not that the earth is a flat circle (dinner plate shape) or that people are literal grasshoppers. I have often asked and heard asked "what time does the sun come up", no one takes that as a scientific description, but when the Bible makes a similar statement, they try to attack that. The Catholic Church did not understand that and arrested Galileo when he figured out that the sun does not move and that the earth does. http://bible.cc/isaiah/40-22.htm Machabath is the Hebrew word for a flat plate. http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/4227.htm http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=disk&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o7=&o5=&o1=1&o6=&o4=&o3=&h= A disk is a flat circular object, a circle is not. http://eastonsbibledictionary.com/search--circle - 4. (n.) A round body; a sphere; an orb. http://refbible.com/c/compass.htm - The same Hebrew word chugh, was used for circle, compass, and sphere. { 4. (n.) Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere; as, the compass of his eye; the compass of imagination. kum'-pas, kum'-pas-iz: --- "Compass," noun, is the translation of chugh, "a circle," "vault" or "arch" ("when he set a compass upon the face of the depth" Proverbs 8:27 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American), the American Standard Revised Version "circle"; compare Job 26:10; and see CIRCLE; VAULT OF EARTH); of karkobh, "a margin"} http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2329&t=KJV - circuit, compass, circle,. Circle, sphere, used of the arch or vault of the sky. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/circle http://www.thefreedictionary.com/circle - Circle: 10. A sphere of influence or interest; domain. http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/CIRCLE 4. A round body; a sphere; an orb. The Hebrew word chugh, here translated "circle," may also be rendered "sphere."3 Other Bible translations read, "the globe of the earth" (Douay Version), "round" (The Message), and "the round earth."—Moffatt Although chugh could be translated as sphere, I think that in the context, of the description from space as in Isaiah 40:22 where men are compared to grasshoppers, that circle would be the right choice. From very high up, no matter at which rotation the earth is on, no matter what continent you are over, the earth or a sphere would have a round outline and the people if you see them at all, would appear as grasshoppers or ants. Not that the earth is a flat circle no more than people are literal grasshoppers. Anyone making such assertions in not being honest with themselves when looking at the context. The Bible does not say that the earth is a flat circle no more than Isaiah 66:1 is saying that the earth is a literal footstool with four legs and a cloth or vinyl top. IS 66:1 This is what Jehovah has said: "The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where, then, is the house that YOU people can build for me, and where, then, is the place as a resting-place for me?" People that make that assertion would likely say that if someone described the sky with the circle of the moon and the stars of which are like glitter, that that would be technically wrong, or that if when you only see 1/4 of the moon if someone was to describe it as crescent shaped that they are wrong because the moon is not a crescent or the stars are not glitter. Or if a child drew a picture of the sun or moon on paper that it is not correct sence the picture was not drawn in 3D. It is obvious from the context of people as grasshoppers, heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent shows that it is speaking metaphorically of views of heaven and God from the earth and of views of earth and people from heaven.

Isa. 40:22: "God sits high above the ROUND BALL of earth. The people look like mere ants." (The Message Translation)   Isa. 40:22: "It is he that sitteth upon the GLOBE of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts." (New Advent Translation)

Let's face it. Some of those guys were on crack.

��— Is it proper to use Isaiah 40:22 to prove that the Bible teaches that the earth is round, Isaiah’s words being written at a time when men thought the earth was flat? Some have expressed the thought that the word “circle” could refer to something circular but flat.—J. L., Denmark. Isaiah 40:22 reads: “There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth.” When this text says that God sits above the circle of the earth, this harmonizes with the fact that the earth is circular, viewed from all directions, but that also makes it globular in form. The Hebrew word hhug here is defined in A Concordance of the Hebrew and Chaldee Scriptures by B. Davidson as “circle, sphere.” This same Hebrew word for circle is found in Job 22:14, where the New World Translation says of God: “On the vault of heaven he walks about.” Now, we know that the vault of heaven as seen from the earth is hemispherical, or like a half globe. The other half of the hemispherical vault of heaven extends below the earth upon which we stand and hence cannot be seen directly by us. In harmony with this fact, when Isaiah 40:22 says that God sits above the circle of the earth, then the word “circle” here is in the same Hebrew sense as that found in Job 22:14. Thus it follows that the word “circle” in Isaiah 40:22 must mean something that is rotund, just as the appearance of the sky viewed from the earth is rotund and like a vault. Source: Watchtower 1967

Yes, They did. Matthew 4:8, "The devil took him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and displayed before him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence...." Job 38:13-14 is sometimes quoted as a round-earth text: "Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?" Daniel 4:7-8, "I saw a tree of great height at the center of the world. It was large and strong, with its top touching the heavens, and it could be seen from the ends of the earth." Christians were inspired by nothing more than their political and religious motivations. Thus, being ignorant of scientific facts, they thought the earth was flat, that sick people were possessed by demons, and that essentially everything was caused by either gods or demons. Unfortunately, many people are still just as ignorant.

“the writers of the Old Testament books of the Bible had a Babylonian world view, according to which Earth is flat[5] and stands on pillars, and is covered by a solid sky-dome,[6][7] the Firmament. The firmament was the heaven in which God set the sun (Psalm 19:5) and the stars (Gen 1:14).[8] The flat earth concept appears to be mentioned in Isaiah 40:22, where it speaks of God "dwelling above the circle of earth." According to researcher Paul Seely, "there is nothing either in the underlying Hebrew word (hug) or in the context which necessarily implies anything more than the circularity of the flat earth-disc." If the author wanted to describe the Earth as a globe, he most likely would have used the word dur (as in Isaiah 22:18), meaning a "ball." [“… He will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country. There you will die…”] The fact that he did not may indicate he shared a Babylonian or Egyptian concept of a flat Earth.[9] Job 26:7 states that God was "hanging the earth upon nothing" and the same verse also described the north (of the Earth) as hanging over nothing too.” The ‘pick-and-choose apologists’ claiming ‘scientific foreknowledge’ in the Bible should read the verses in full context exposing more ignorance than ‘science’: Isaiah 40:22 refers to circular horizon from a height, just as Daniel 4:7-8. “He sits enthroned above the ‘circle’ of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He ‘stretches out’ the heavens like a canopy and ‘spreads’ them like a tent to live in.” All words in ‘__’ refer to flat objects, like a carpet, with edges & corners; and/or supported, typically with pillars! Where is suspension by the force of gravity? Daniel 4:7-8: "I saw a tree of great height at the center of the world. It was large and strong, with its top touching the heavens, and it could be seen from the ends of the earth." [In brief] Job 9:6 He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble. Job 22:8 He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing Job 22:10 He marks out the horizon ‘on the face of’ the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. Job 22:11 The pillars of heaven quake aghast at his rebuke. Job 38:13-14 it might take hold of the ends of the earth… Matthew 4:8 "The devil took him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and displayed before him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence...." Revelation 7:1 After his I saw four angels standing at the ‘four corners’ of the earth.