Bible Encyclopedias
Circle

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(חוּג, chug), any part of a curve, an arch. The word is applied (Job 22:14, where, however, it is translated "circuit") to the heavens, which the ancients supposed to be a hollow sphere. They imagined that the sky was solid, and extended like an arch over the earth. The word is also referred to the earth in Isaiah 40:22, and to the surface of the ocean in Proverbs 8:27, where it is rendered "compass;" in both which passages it still seems to mean the celestial vault, as spanning these. In Wisdom of Solomon 13:2, the Greek term κύκλος is so rendered, with reference to the path of the stars. (See CIRCUIT).

Bibliography Information
McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Circle'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tce/​c/circle.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.