The caption underneath the engraving (not shown here) translates to "A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet." The Flammarion engraving (1888) depicts a man crawling under the edge of the sky, depicted as if it were a solid hemisphere, to look at the mysterious Empyrean beyond. The Vulgate translates rāqīaʿ with firmamentum, and that remains the best rendering. The meaning of the verb rqʿ concerns the hammering of the vault of heaven into firmness (Isa. Rāqīaʿ means that which is firmly hammered, stamped (a word of the same root in Phoenecian means "tin dish"!). Rāqīaʿ derives from the root rqʿ ( רָקַע), meaning "to beat or spread out thinly". These words all translate the Biblical Hebrew word rāqīaʿ ( רָקִ֫יעַ), used for example in Genesis 1.6, where it is contrasted with shamayim ( שָׁמַיִם), translated as " heaven" in Genesis 1.8. This in turn is a calque of the Greek στερέωμᾰ ( steréōma), also meaning a solid or firm structure (Greek στερεός = rigid), which appears in the Septuagint, the Greek translation made by Jewish scholars around 200 BCE. The same word is found in French and German Bible translations, all from Latin firmamentum (a firm object), used in the Vulgate (4th century). It later appeared in the King James Bible. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.Īnd God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.Īnd they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.Īnd God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.Īnd 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, and years:Īnd under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.Īnd above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.In English, the word "firmament" is recorded as early as 1250, in the Middle English Story of Genesis and Exodus. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
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Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.Īnd there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.Īnd 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.Īnd God called the firmament Heaven. (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handywork.Īnd let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 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.Īnd God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,