חוּג

From the study of Isaiah 40:22

Range of meaning

A circle drawn or marked out, a circuit, the curved boundary of the visible world. It is linked to the verb ḥûg/ḥāgag, 'to draw a circle, mark out a boundary' (Job 26:10). It is used for the horizon where sky meets sea (Prov 8:27, 'when he drew a circle on the face of the deep') and for the dome or round path of the sky (Job 22:14, 'he walks on the circle of the heavens').

Against the English

Every major English version says 'circle'. That is accurate. But modern readers who know the earth is a globe often hear 'circle' as 'sphere'. Biblical Hebrew had a different word for a ball, dûr / kaddûr (Isa 22:18, 'like a ball'), and Isaiah does not use it here.

How it drifted

The English word has not drifted. What has drifted is the picture modern readers bring to it. Since the age of globes and satellite photos, 'circle of the earth' is often read as advance knowledge of a spherical planet.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only three occurrences: Job 22:14, Prov 8:27, Isa 40:22. The Greek Septuagint translates it gŷros, 'ring, circle', and the Latin Vulgate has gyrus. A Babylonian 'world map' tablet from about the 6th century BC (British Museum) draws the earth as a flat round disc ringed by a 'bitter river' of ocean. That is the kind of picture of the world the exiles would have known. HALOT and BDB give 'circle, horizon, vault'.

From the study of Proverbs 8:27

Range of meaning

A circle or circular line; a ring or circuit; used of the round horizon, the curved vault of the sky, and the round edge of the earth's disk. The related verb chug means 'to draw a circle, trace a round' (Job 26:10).

Against the English

BSB, NASB, WEB and ESV say 'circle'. NIV and NLT interpret it as 'the horizon'. KJV says 'compass', which in 1611 meant a circle or circuit, not an instrument.

How it drifted

Modern readers who know that the earth is a globe often read 'circle' as 'sphere'. Hebrew had a different word for a ball (dur, Isaiah 22:18). Chug is a flat or curved ring, a line, not a solid ball.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word appears only three other times: Job 22:14 (God 'walks on the vault [chug] of heaven'), Isaiah 40:22 (God 'sits above the circle [chug] of the earth'), and here. The closest parallel is Job 26:10: 'He has traced a circle [choq-chag] on the face of the waters, at the boundary between light and darkness.' It uses the same verb (chaqaq) and the same image. Sirach 24:5, a Jewish wisdom book from about 180 BC, picks up this verse: Wisdom says, 'Alone I circled the vault of heaven and walked in the depths of the abyss.' Ancient Near Eastern pictures of the world, such as the Babylonian world map, show a round land surrounded by a ring of ocean.