This glorious firmament, brilliantly crystalline in appearance, must be 'the third heaven' to which the apostle Paul was once 'caught up' in a special manifestation of God's presence and power, to hear 'unspeakable words' from God in 'paradise' ( 2 Corinthians 12:2-4).Īll three heavens 'declare the glory of God' and all three firmaments 'sheweth his handiwork' ( Psalm 19:1).

The firmament in our text, however, is beneath the very throne of God, and above the mighty cherubim ( Ezekiel 1:23) who seem always in Scripture to indicate the near presence of God. A verbal form is found in Exodus 39:3, Heb. , H8385, a difficult word the root of which refers to beaten metals. 'And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth' ( Genesis 1:17). FIRMAMENT, the traditional rendering in the Eng. There is also a second firmament, or second heaven, where God placed the sun, moon, and stars, stretching out into the infinite reaches of space. They who rendered raki'a by firmamentum regarded it as a solid body. This word means simply 'expansion.' It' denotes the space or expanse like an arch appearing immediately above us. Genesis 1:15 chapter context similar meaning copy save And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. This firmament obviously could not be a solid boundary above the sky, but is essentially the atmosphere, the 'first heaven,' the 'space' where the birds were to 'fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven' ( Genesis 1:20). Firmament 'From the Vulgate firmamentum, which is used as the translation' 'of the Hebrew raki'a. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handywork. And God called the firmament Heaven' ( Genesis 1:6, 8). Its first occurrence in the Bible relates it to heaven: 'And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days. The English word 'firmament' in the Bible is a translation of the Hebrew raqia, meaning 'expanse.' Its meaning is not 'firm boundary' as biblical critics have alleged, but might be better paraphrased as 'stretched-out thinness' or simply 'space.' 'And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.' ( Ezekiel 1:22)

Bible firmament