These words all translate the Biblical Hebrew word rāqīa, used for example in Genesis 1:6, where it is contrasted with shamayim, translated as “heavens” in Genesis 1:1 Rāqīaʿ derives from the root rq, meaning to beat or spread out thinly and concerns the hammering of the vault of heaven into firmness (Isaiah 42:5; Psalms136:6). The Hebrew lexicographers Brown, Driver and Briggs gloss the noun with "extended surface, (solid) expanse (as if beaten out)" and distinguish two main uses:
1. (flat) expanse (as if of ice), as base, support
2. the vault of heaven, or 'firmament,' regarded by Hebrews as solid and supporting 'waters' above it." A related noun, riqqua, found in Numbers 16:38, refers to the process of hammering metal into sheets.
Rāqīa means that which is firmly hammered, stamped (a word of the same root in Phoenecian means "tin dish"!). The Vulgate translates rāqīa with firmamentum, and that remains the best rendering.


Genesis 1:8
And God called the firmament Heaven...
Job 37:18
Hast thou with Him spread out the sky,
Which is strong and as a molten
looking glass?

Isaiah 40:22
It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the
earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as
grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the
heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in:

Amos 9:6
It is He that buildeth His stories in the heaven, and hath founded His troop (vault) in the earth; He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is His name.

Ezekiel 1:26-28
And 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…
Psalms 33:13-14
The LORD looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of His habitation He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork... In them hath he set a tabernacle (tent) for the sun...
Why this passage matters
Psalm 19:1-6 serves to remind humanity that the natural world provides undeniable evidence of a Creator. It establishes that no one has an excuse to deny God's existence because the "testimony" of creation is broadcasted to everyone, every single day. See also Romans 1:20-22

Genesis 11:4-5
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
Acts 1:9-11
...which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Jesus came down from and went up to heaven. He and His kingdom are very close above us.

In a Q&A with Rachel a Columbia student, Bill Nye gave his opinion on why we cannot throw trash or dangerous nuclear waste into space. He said “Why we don’t throw trash into space? Because it’s too expensive. Lifting a ton of material into space takes an extraordinary amount of rocket fuel. And, by the way, when people want to send this much plutonium-238 which is not even the weapon’s plutonium, a baseball size, a grapefruit size, people freak out because the rockets sometimes blow up. Now, one thing I really want your generation to embrace is that the Earth is a closed system. We cannot leave the Earth. There’s no place to go. There’s no place to throw your trash...”
Globe believers think Biblical Cosmology believers take his comments out of text. Bill could have said it was cost prohibitive or dangerous and left it at that, but he didn't. He elaborated and leaked out more truth than he should have said. Truth in plain sight. If space were real then the perfect place for nuclear waste would be out there.

Earth's atmosphere is pressurized. Supposedly outer space (which is fake) is a vacuum. It's a violation of the 2nd law of Thermodynamics to have a gas pressure system next to a vacuum without a container. The Firmament is that barrier that contains our pressurized atmosphere, but not from the vacuum of outer space but from the waters above (see Genesis 1:7). Another problem science has, if the earth is spinning a 1,000 miles an hour then the centrifugal force would make everything fly away from the surface of the earth. Fortunately, they invented the theory of gravity that they say even holds our atmosphere in place but still lets a butterfly fly and smoke which is a collection of tiny unburnt particles rise. Nonsense - The alternative to this so-called theory is
Density - Anything heavier than air or water falls. Example: A Rock
Buoyancy - Anything added with air or a gas lighter than air floats or rises. Example: Boat/Ship and Helium Balloon
Electromagnetism - What is holding the sun and moon in place and lets them revolve.

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