![]() One is to conclude that that the Biblical narrator and audience were hopelessly prescientific slobs who really believed that the sky was a solid dome. This has led to two different ways to understand the language used here. The use of the Greek stereōma and the Latin firmamentum to translate raqi‘a has led to the persistent claim that what God creates above the earth on the second day of creation is a solid dome. Whether or not this is meant to be the universal heavenly canopy created in Genesis 1 is not entirely clear. In the context of his vision of what almost appear to be spaceships, Ezekiel sees a raqi‘a (without the definite article “the” when it is first mentioned), with a throne above it, someone seated on it, and a voice that comes from there (Ezek 1:22-26, 10:1). In Psalm 150:1, God’s raqi‘a is paired poetically with “his sanctuary.” Daniel 12:3 pairs this same raqi‘a with the domain of the stars.Įzekiel’s use of raqi‘a may or may not refer to the same heavenly part of creation. The raqi‘a is the focal point of the second day of creation: “Let there be a raqi‘a in the midst of the waters” to separate the waters above from the waters below, “and God called the raqi‘a Sky/Heaven.” In Psalm 19:1, the raqi‘a and “the heavens” are equated, paired there as poetic synonyms. It is also used twice in Psalms, five times in Ezekiel, and once in Daniel. ![]() The Hebrew word raqi‘a (most often translated “firmament”) is used nine times in Genesis 1.
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