his circuit
Psalms 19:6
19:6 his circuit. The critical charge that this verse reflects an unscientific geocentric view (the sun orbiting a fixed earth) is puerile. All motion is “relative motion,” since no one knows where a stationary “center of the universe” might be (the sun apparently moves in a gigantic circuit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and the galaxy itself moves with respect to other galaxies). The most scientific way of dealing with different motions is to assume a point of zero motion, and measure other motions relative to that. The best point to assume as a point of zero motion is the one for which the equations of motion are simplest. For all surveyors, all navigators, and most astronomers, that reference point is the surface of the earth at the location of the observer. David takes this scientific approach in referring to the sun’s motion relative to the earth. At the same time, his statement is also correct for any other assumed fixed point, since the sun and the galaxy do actually move throughout the whole universe.