H7549

• {"n":"Genesis 1:6-8","s":"Let there be a firmament. A word built on the sense of beating something out flat, likely naming a solid dome, not empty space.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=genesis-1-6-8","r":"Genesis 1:6-8","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"Older versions read firmament, itself a transliteration of the Latin firmamentum, translating the Greek stereoma, solid structure. Some modern versions read expanse or sky, softening the solidity the underlying words and root more strongly suggest."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"English firmament sounds vaguely solid but vague enough that most readers picture open sky. The Hebrew word's root is tied to beating out metal into a flat sheet, the same kind of work a smith does hammering a bowl from a lump of metal, which points toward a solid structure holding back water, not simply open air."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"Raqia comes from a root meaning to spread out or beat out, the same action used of hammering metal into a thin sheet, and functions in Genesis 1 to separate waters above from waters below, holding the upper waters back the way a solid barrier would. Comparative ancient Near Eastern cosmology regularly pictures the sky as a solid, dome-like structure, and the linguistic, comparative, and contextual evidence together lead most specialists to conclude the original audience understood raqia as solid, not merely as empty, open space."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"English firmament and expanse both allow a reader to imagine open air, while the Hebrew word's root and its ancient cosmological context point more strongly toward an actual solid structure, a real difference in what ancient readers likely pictured when they heard the word."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"When translating a cosmological term, check both its root meaning and how the surrounding ancient culture pictured the same concept before assuming a modern, scientifically informed picture of the sky was ever in view. Ancient cosmology and modern cosmology are not obligated to agree, and the text was written within the ancient one."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"Firmament preserves some sense of solidity but reads as archaic and vague to most modern ears. Expanse or sky, now common in modern versions, more comfortably fits a modern cosmological picture but likely understates how solid the original Hebrew word and its ancient context actually suggest."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u05e8\u05b8\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b7 raqia (\u05e8\u05b8\u05e7\u05b7\u05e2 raqa, to beat out) \u00b7 H7549"}],"src":["raqa used of beating out metal: Exodus 39:3; Numbers 16:39","Septuagint stereoma, solid structure, behind the Latin firmamentum","Comparative ancient Near Eastern cosmology depicting a solid sky-dome"]}