Firmament dossier · Ancient cosmologies · 6 min read
The firmament in the Hebrew Bible
The raqia, the waters above, the pillars of the earth and the windows of heaven
The full text of this study is in Portuguese; the summary, key points and official view are in English.
On the second day of creation, Genesis describes God making a raqia, a Hebrew word that comes from the verb “to beat, to spread out by hammering”, as one does with a sheet of metal, to separate the waters below from the waters above. The Greek translators called this structure stereōma, “that which is firm”, and the Latin ones firmamentum. For researchers of the firmament, the text describes a solid, dome-shaped sky over a fixed earth that has foundations and pillars. This dossier gathers the verses, the history of the words and the debate about how to read them.
Key points
- Raqia (רָקִיעַ) derives from raqa‘, “to beat, flatten, spread out”, the same verb used for metal hammered into sheets (Exodus 39:3; Numbers 16:38–39).
- The Septuagint (3rd century BC) translated it as stereōma, “firm structure”; Jerome’s Vulgate (c. 400) as firmamentum.
- Sun, Moon and stars are “set in the firmament” (Genesis 1:17): inside it, not beyond it.
- There are waters above the firmament (Genesis 1:7; Psalm 148:4) and “windows of heaven” that open in the Flood (Genesis 7:11).
- The earth has foundations and pillars and “shall not be moved” (Psalm 104:5; 1 Samuel 2:8; Job 38:4–6).
What the official version says
Astronomy and geodesy describe the Earth as a roughly spherical body with no solid dome: satellites, navigation, flights and gravity measurements all depend on this model. Many theologians read the firmament as poetic or “phenomenological” language (a description of how the sky looks to an observer) and point out that Job 26:7 says God “hangs the earth upon nothing”.
Keep investigating
- The Book of Enoch and the gates of heaven The portals of the Sun, the winds that hold up the firmament and the ends of the earth
- Babylon: the sky made from the body of Tiamat The Enuma Elish and the Babylonian world map
- Cosmas Indicopleustes and the tabernacle universe A sixth-century monk draws the flat earth from the Bible
Other languages: Português · Español
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