Definition of firmament5/16/2023 Also, in Psalm 150:1, “Praise ye the LORD. We find firmament used again in Psalms: “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psalm 19:1). Or, the waters above the firmament could simply be a reference to clouds. Originally, God created the earth with water “under” the sky (terrestrial and subterranean water) and water “above” the sky-possibly a “ water canopy” which enwrapped the earth in a protective layer. Genesis says that the firmament “separated the water under the expanse from the water above it” (Genesis 1:7). In the firmament, we see the sun, moon, and stars in modern translations the firmament is often called the “expanse” or the “sky.” It is the space which includes the earth’s atmosphere and the celestial realm. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” The “firmament” is called “heaven” i.e., it is what people see when they stand outside and look up. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. Genesis 1:6-8 says, “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Nine of the occurrences of firmament are in the first chapter of the Bible as part of the creation account. On this point, as on many others, the Bible simply reflects the current cosmological ideas and language of the time.The “firmament” (from the Latin firmamentum, meaning “sky” or “expanse”) is mentioned 17 times in the King James Version of the Bible and refers to the expanse of the heavens above the earth. in the air as distinct from the firmament. In conformity with these ideas, the writer of Gen., i, 14-17, 20, represents God as setting the stars in the firmament of heaven, and the fowls are located beneath it, i.e. Is., xlii, 5, emphasize rather the idea of something extended: “Thus saith the Lord God that created the heavens and stretched them out” (Cf. also IV Kings, vii, 19 Is., xxiv, 18 Mal., iii, 10 Prov., viii, 28 sqq.) Other passages, e.g. It may have been inserted in this missal at a later date water, it being conceived as supporting a vast celestial reservoir and also in the account of the deluge (Gen., vii), where we read that the “flood gates of heaven were opened”, and “shut up” (viii, 2). to serve as a wall of separation between the upper and lower bodies of The same is implied in the purpose attributed to God in creating the firmament, viz. The notion of the solidity of the firmament is moreover expressed in such passages as Job, xxxvii, 18, where reference is made incidentally to the heavens, “which are most strong, as if they were of molten brass”. The Hebrew word yr p7 means something beaten or hammered out, and thus extended the Vulgate rendering, “firmamentum”, corresponds more closely with the Greek stereoma (Septuagint, Aquila, and Symmachus), “something made firm or solid”. In the first account of the creation (Gen., i) we read that God created a firmament to divide the upper or celestial from the lower or terrestrial waters. That the Hebrews entertained similar ideas appears from numerous biblical passages. According to the notion prevalent among the Greeks and Romans, the sky was a great vault of crystal to which the fixed stars were attached, though by some it was held to be of iron or brass. Like-wise to the mind of the Babylonians the sky was an immense dome, forged out of the hardest metal by the hand of Merodach (Marduk) and resting on a wall surrounding the earth (Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier, Strasburg, 1890, pp. Thus the Egyptians conceived the heavens to be an arched iron ceiling from which the stars were suspended by means of cables (Chabas, L’Antiquite historique, Paris, 1873, pp. stereoma Vulgate, firmamentum).-The notion that the sky was a vast solid dome seems to have been common among the ancient peoples whose ideas of cosmology have come down to us.
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