This verb is used eleven times in the Old Testament and is translated variously in the ESV (and similarly in other translations) as “hammer,” “spread out,” “beat,” “stamp,” or “overlay.” Often it refers to spreading, beating, or hammering a thin layer of metal (gold or silver or bronze) onto an object. 5 The noun, raqiya‘, is related to the verb, raqa‘). The words “firmament” and “expanse” in English translations are renderings of the Hebrew word ( raqiya‘). So now we need to turn our attention to the Hebrew word behind the translations of “firmament” and “expanse.” The Meaning of raqiya‘ Like most words in every language, we cannot be certain what a word means or refers to until that word is used in a specific context: a phrase, a sentence, or longer text. So, it is an imprecise word, just as is the Hebrew word for “heaven” ( shamayim), which refers to the domain of birds (e.g., Genesis 9:2), the domain of the sun, moon, and stars (e.g., Genesis 26:4) and the abode of God (Psalm 2:4). Of course, astronomers also think and talk about the sky this way.
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