'Stars' in the Bible

God made the two great lights—the greater light (the sun) to rule the day, and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night; He made the [galaxies of] stars also [that is, all the amazing wonders in the heavens].

And the Lord brought Abram outside [his tent into the night] and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So [numerous] shall your descendants be.”

indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies [as conquerors].

I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,

But Joseph dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers [as well]. He said, “See here, I have again dreamed a dream, and lo, [this time I saw] eleven stars and the sun and the moon bowed down [in respect] to me!”

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), Your servants to whom You swore [an oath] by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

The Lord your God has multiplied you, and look, today you are as numerous as the stars of heaven.

And beware that you do not raise your eyes toward heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and let yourselves be led astray and worship them and serve them, [mere created bodies] which the Lord your God has allotted to [serve and benefit] all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy persons [in all], and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, you who were as numerous as the stars of heaven shall be left few in number.

“From the heavens the stars fought,From their courses they fought against Sisera.

But David did not count those twenty years of age and under, for the Lord had said he would multiply Israel as the stars of heaven.

So we carried on with the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars came out.

“You made their children as numerous as the stars of heaven,And You brought them into the landWhich You told their fathers to enter and possess.

“Let the stars of its early dawn be dark;Let the morning wait in vain for the light,Let it not see the eyelids of morning (the day’s dawning),

Who commands the sun, and it does not shine;Who seals up the stars [from view];

“Is not God in the height of heaven?And behold the distant stars, how high they are!

“Behold, even the moon has no brightness [compared to God’s majesty and glory]And the stars are not pure in His sight,

When the morning stars sang togetherAnd all the sons of God (angels) shouted for joy?

“Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades,Or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion?

“Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,And guide [the stars of] the Bear with her sons?

When I see and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,The moon and the stars, which You have established,

There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars];Their voice is not heard.

The moon and stars to rule by night,For His lovingkindness endures forever;

He counts the number of the stars;He calls them all by their names.

Praise Him, sun and moon:Praise Him, all stars of light!

before the sun and the light, and the moon and the stars are darkened [by impaired vision], and the clouds [of depression] return after the rain [of tears];

For the stars of heaven and their constellationsWill not flash with their light;The sun will be dark when it rises,And the moon will not shed its light.

“But you said in your heart,‘I will ascend to heaven;I will raise my throne above the stars of God;I will sit on the mount of assemblyIn the remote parts of the north.

All the host of heaven will be dissolved,And the skies will be rolled up like a scroll;All their hosts [the stars and the planets] will also wither awayAs a leaf withers from the vine,And as a fig withers from the fig tree.

Thus says the Lord,Who gives the sun for light by dayAnd the fixed order of the moon and of the stars for light by night,Who stirs up the sea’s roaring billows or stills the waves when they roar;The Lord of hosts is His name:

As the host of [the stars of] heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’”

“And when I extinguish you,I will cover the heavens [of Egypt] and darken their stars;I will cover the sun with a cloudAnd the moon will not give its light.

And [in my vision] this horn grew up to the host of heaven, and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled on them.

Those who are [spiritually] wise will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness, [will shine] like the stars forever and ever.

The wind [of God’s relentless wrath] has wrapped up Israel in its wings,And [in captivity] they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices [to calves, to sun, to moon, to stars, and to pagan gods].

The earth quakes before them,The heavens tremble,The sun and the moon grow darkAnd the stars lose their brightness.

The sun and the moon grow darkAnd the stars lose their brightness.

He who made the [cluster of stars called] Pleiades and [the constellation] Orion,Who turns deep darkness into the morningAnd darkens the day into night,Who calls for the waters of the seaAnd pours them out on the surface of the earth,The Lord is His name.

“Though you build [your nest] on high like the eagle,Though you set your nest among the stars,I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord.

You have increased your traders more than the [visible] stars of heaven—The creeping locust strips and destroys and then flies away.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not provide its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.

“There will be signs (attesting miracles) in the sun and moon and stars; and on the earth [there will be] distress and anguish among nations, in perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea and the waves,

But God turned away [from them] and handed them over to serve the host of heaven. As it is written and forever remains written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not [really] to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?

Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm kept raging about us, from then on all hope of our being saved was [growing worse and worse and] gradually abandoned.

There are also heavenly bodies [sun, moon and stars] and earthly bodies [humans, animals, and plants], but the glory and beauty of the heavenly is one kind, and the glory of the earthly is another.

There is a glory and beauty of the sun, another glory of the moon, and yet another [distinctive] glory of the stars; and one star differs from another in glory and brilliance.

so that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish in the midst of a [morally] crooked and [spiritually] perverted generation, among whom you are seen as bright lights [beacons shining out clearly] in the world [of darkness],

So from one man, though he was [physically] as good as dead, were born as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand on the seashore.

wild waves of the sea, flinging up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of deep darkness has been reserved forever.

In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword [of judgment]; and His face [reflecting His majesty and the Shekinah glory] was like the sun shining in [all] its power [at midday].

As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels (divine messengers) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

“To the angel (divine messenger) of the church in Ephesus write:“These are the words of the One who holds [firmly] the seven stars [which are the angels or messengers of the seven churches] in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands (the seven churches):

“To the angel (divine messenger) of the church in Sardis write:“These are the words of Him who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: ‘I know your deeds; you have a name (reputation) that you are alive, but [in reality] you are dead.

and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree shedding its late [summer] figs when shaken by a strong wind.

Then the fourth angel sounded [his trumpet], and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and a third of the daylight would not shine, and the night in the same way [would not shine].

And a great sign [warning of an ominous and frightening future event] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

And his tail swept [across the sky] and dragged away a third of the stars of heaven and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.