Was the Bible Right?
Book of Job (date debated)·Science in the Bible·Claim

The Pleiades and Orion in Job

Scripture: Job 38:31–32; Job 9:9; Amos 5:8

The Pleiades star cluster with its blue reflection nebula
The Pleiades star cluster with its blue reflection nebula · Photo: NASA, ESA, AURA/Caltech, Palomar Observatory · Public domain · Source

The claim

"Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion?" (Job 38:31). A popular claim says this shows knowledge that the Pleiades stars are held together by gravity while Orion's are drifting apart.

What the text and science say

The Pleiades are an open star cluster whose stars move together through space, and the stars of Orion's belt are not a bound group, so the claim gets some astronomy right. But open clusters do not stay bound: astronomers expect the Pleiades to disperse over the next few hundred million years. The Hebrew is also uncertain. The star names (Kimah, Kesil) are traditionally but not certainly the Pleiades and Orion, and the word rendered "chains" (ma'adannot) is obscure; the KJV reads "sweet influences". In context, God is asking Job whether he can control the seasonal stars that rule the sky, a statement about divine power.

Sources

  1. David J. A. Clines, Job 38–42 (Word Biblical Commentary 18B), Thomas Nelson (2011)
  2. Robert Burnham Jr., Burnham's Celestial Handbook, Vol. 3, Dover (1978)

Verdict history

  • DebatedInitial verdict.