Firmament in the Bible

Firmament translates the Hebrew word raqia (רָקִיעַ), which means an expanse or stretched-out space. In Genesis 1, it refers to the expanse God made between the waters above and the waters below on the second day of creation. The KJV uses 'firmament'; modern English translations often use 'expanse' or 'vault'.

The word appears 17 times in the KJV Old Testament. Most uses are in Genesis 1 (verses 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 20). It also appears in Psalm 19:1 ('the firmament sheweth his handywork'), Psalm 150:1, Ezekiel 1 and 10, and Daniel 12:3.

The KJV translators followed the Latin Vulgate, which used firmamentum (from firmus, meaning firm or solid). Jerome chose firmamentum to translate the Greek stereoma in the Septuagint, which itself rendered the Hebrew raqia. The English word firmament therefore carries a hint of solidity that the Hebrew raqia may or may not imply.

Many ancient cultures (Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek) pictured the sky as a dome or solid structure. Some scholars argue the Genesis text reflects that ancient cosmology; others argue raqia simply means a stretched-out expanse without specifying material. The Hebrew word itself is ambiguous, and the biblical text does not press the cosmological details.

Modern English translations usually render raqia as 'expanse' or 'vault' to avoid the suggestion of a solid dome. The basic meaning is the visible sky or atmosphere, with sun, moon, and stars set in it (Genesis 1:14-17) and birds flying across its face (Genesis 1:20).

No. Genesis 1 is a theological account of creation, not a modern scientific text. Reading it as a modern atmosphere or upper-atmosphere boundary goes beyond what the Hebrew word supports. The point of the firmament passages is that God ordered the cosmos and made the sky a place for the lights and birds; the cosmological details are not the focus.