God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
Parallel Translations
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God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
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And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
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And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
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Explain this verse (8 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, the region of the air, and all…
That is, the region of the air, and all that is above us.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And…
Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Ver. 8. And the evening, &c.] Here is no mention of God’s approbation of this second day’s work. Not for that hell was then created, or the reprobate angels then ejected, as the Jews give as the reason of it; but because this day’s work was left unperfected, till the next; to the which, therefore, the blessing was reserved, and is then redoubled. God delights to do his works, not all at once, but by degrees, that we may take time to contemplate them piecemeal, and see him in every one of them, as in an optic glass. "Consider the lilies of the field," saith our Saviour. {Kαταμαηετε Mat 6:28} "Go to the ant, thou sluggard," saith Solomon. {Pro 6:6} Luther {a} wished Pontanus, Chancellor of Saxony, to contemplate the star-chamber of heaven, that stupendous archwork borne up by no props or pillars, and yet not falling on our heads: the thick clouds also hanging often over us with great weight, and yet vanishing again, when they have greeted us but with their threatening looks. And cannot God as easily uphold his sinking saints, and blow over any storm that hangs over their heads? An artificer takes it ill, if when he hath finished some intricate piece of work, and sets it forth to be seen, as Apelles was wont to do, men slight it, and take no notice of his handiwork. And is there not a woe to such stupid persons as "regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands?." {Isa 5:12} He was telling any tale from a bowl but that one stirred our ears, {A sino quispiam narrabat fabulam, at ille movebat aures} is a proverb among the Greeks. Christ was by at the creation, and rejoiced; {Pro 8:30} angels also were by at the doing of a great deal, and were wrapped with admiration. {Job 38:4-7} Shall they shout for joy, and we be silent? Oh, how should we vex at the vile dulness of our hearts, that are no more affected with these indelible ravishments!
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{a} Proponit contemplandam pulcherrimam caeli concame rationem nullis pilis et columnis impositam, &c. - Scultet. Annal. 276
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And God called the firmament heaven,.... Including the starry…
And God called the firmament heaven,.... Including the starry and airy heavens: it has its name from its height in the Arabic language, it being above the earth, and reaching to the third heaven; though others take the word "shamaim" to be a compound of two words, "sham" and "maim", that is, there are waters, namely, in the clouds of heaven:
and the evening; and the morning were the second day; these together made up the space of twenty four hours, which was another natural day; the body of light, created on the first day, having again moved round the chaos in that space of time; or else the chaos had turned round on its own axis in that time, which revolution produced a second day; and which, according to Capellus, was the nineteenth of April, and according to Bishop Usher the twenty fourth of October. It is an observation that everyone may make, that the phrase,
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and God saw that it was good, is not used at the close of this day's work, as of the rest: the reason some Jewish writers give is, because the angels fell on this day; but it is a much better which Jarchi gives, and that is, because the work of the waters was not finished; it was begun on the second day, and perfected on the third (d); and therefore the phrase is twice used in the account of the third day's work: the Septuagint version adds it here indeed, but without any foundation.
(d) Vid. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 30.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. God called the firmament Heaven — Rather, called…
8. God called the firmament Heaven — Rather, called the expanse Heavens. Here the writer defines the meaning of the word “heavens,” which he had used in the first verse. And he further represents the luminaries as set in the expanse of the heavens, (Gen_1:14-17,) and the winged fowls as flying upon its face, (Gen_1:20,) and hence called the fowl of the heavens. Gen_1:26; Gen_1:28; Gen_1:30. By a most natural process the word would become associated with things above, and be used to denote the dwellingplace of God. Hence, too, the notion of many heavens. Compare 2Co_12:3.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. God called the firmament Heaven] It is clear…
8. God called the firmament Heaven] It is clear therefore that what the Hebrews meant by “Heaven,” was neither the clouds and mist, nor the empty space of the sky. It was a solid arch, to which, as we shall see in Gen_1:14, the luminaries of the sky could be attached.
At the close of the description of the work on the other days, we find the formula “And God saw that it was good” (Gen_1:10; Gen_1:12; Gen_1:18; Gen_1:21; Gen_1:25; Gen_1:31). The omission of it here, at the close of the second day, is probably due to textual error.
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LXX adds after the word “Heaven,” “and God saw that it was good.” It is more probable that the words have fallen out accidentally from the Hebrew text, than that the formula was intentionally omitted because, “the waters under the firmament” not having yet received their place, the Divine work upon the waters of the deep was regarded as still incomplete.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) God called the firmament (the expanse) Heaven.—This is…
(8) God called the firmament (the expanse) Heaven.—This is a Saxon word, and means something heaved up. The Hebrew probably means the heights, or upper regions, into which the walls of cities nevertheless ascend (Deu_1:28). In Gen_1:1, “the heaven” may include the abysmal regions of space; here it means the atmosphere round our earth, which, at a distance of about forty-five miles from the surface, melts away into the imponderable ether. The work of the second day is not described as being good, though the LXX. add this usual formula. Probably, however, the work of the second and third days is regarded as one. In both there was a separation of waters; but it was only when the open expanse reached the earth’s surface, and reduced its temperature, that water could exist in any other form than that of vapour. But no sooner did it exist in a fluid form than the pressure of the atmosphere would make it seek the lowest level. The cooling, moreover, of the earth’s surface would produce cracks and fissures, into which the waters would descend, and when these processes were well advanced, then at the end of the third day “God saw that it was good.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And God called the firmament heaven. Literally, the heights,…
And God called the firmament heaven. Literally, the heights, shamayim, as in ver. 1. "This," says Principal Dawson, "may be regarded as an intimation that no definite barrier separates our film of atmosphere from the boundless abyss of heaven without;" and how appropriate the designation "heights" is, as applied to the atmosphere, we are reminded by science, which informs us that, after rising to the height of forty-five miles above the earth, it becomes imperceptible, and loses itself in the universal ether with which it is surrounded. And the evening and the morning were the second day. For the literal rendering of this clause see on ver. 5, It is observable that in connection with the second day"s work the usual formula, "And God saw that it was good," is omitted. The "kain" of the Septuagint is unsupported by any ancient version. The conceit of the Rabbis, that an expression of the Divine approbation was omitted because on this day the angels fell, requires no refutation. Aben Ezra accounts for its omission by making the second day"s work terminate with ver. 10. Lange asks, "Had the prophetic author some anticipation that the blue vault was merely an appearance, whilst the sarans of the Septuagint had no such anticipation, and therefore proceeded to doctor the passage?" The explanation of Calvin, Delitzsch, Macdonald, and Alford, though declared by Kalisch to be of no weight, is probably the correct one, that the work begun on the second day was not properly terminated till the middle of the third, at which place, accordingly, the expression of Divine approbation is introduced (see ver. 10).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain firmament i.e. the expanse above, the "heaven" of the…
firmament i.e. the expanse above, the "heaven" of the clouds. Gen 7:11; Gen 8:2.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.