Constellation

Constellations in biblical usage refer to named groupings of stars recognized in ancient Near Eastern astronomical and astrological tradition. The most significant biblical constellation references appear in Job and Isaiah. God's challenge to Job invokes specific star groupings: Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion? (Job 38:31), and earlier Job himself mentions Orion, Pleiades, and the Bear (Job 9:9). These references presuppose audience familiarity with named star groups common across the ancient world.

Isaiah's oracle against Babylon describes the darkening of constellations on the day of divine judgment: the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light (Isaiah 13:10). The Hebrew kesîlîm (rendered as constellations or Orion in different contexts) appears here in the plural. Scripture consistently presents the stars and their groupings as God's creation and servants rather than independent divine powers, countering the astrological fatalism of surrounding cultures. Amos affirms that God made Pleiades and Orion (Amos 5:8), and the prohibition of worshipping the host of heaven (Deuteronomy 4:19) distinguishes Israelite faith from the astral religion of its neighbors.