Circuit
Circuit (תּקוּפָה, tekuphah') signifies the act of going round, as, for example, the apparent diurnal revolution of the sun around the earth (Ps 19:6); it is also used with reference to the completion of a year in the original of 2Ch 24:23; Ex 34:22 (in which passages it is rendered "end"); or of the term of pregnancy in 1Sa 1:20 ("when ... was come about"). The Scriptures, however, afford us very little information as to the astronomical knowledge of the Jews. SEE ASTRONOMY. In Job 22:14, the Heb. word is different. SEE CIRCLE. In 1Sa 7:16, and Ec 1:6, also, a different form of expression is used in the original to signify, in the former passage (סָבִב, elsewhere usually rendered "compass"), a regular tour of inspection, and in the latter (סָבִיב) the periodical series of gyrations, or, rather, directions of the winds, which in the East are quite regular in their seasons. In Ecclesiasticus 24:5, the original word is γῦρος, the rotation of the heavens; but in 2 Maccabees 6:4, it is simply περίβολος, an enclosure, e.g. of the Temple.
