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The '''firmament''' is the sky and it is debated on whether the term can be interpreted to mean expanse or whether it should be translated to mean a solid dome.<ref>[http://creation.com/is-the-raqiya-firmament-a-solid-dome Is the raqiya‘ (‘firmament’) a solid dome? Equivocal language in the cosmology of Genesis 1 and the Old Testament: a response to Paul H. Seely] by [[JP Holding|James Patrick Holding]]</ref>  According to Genesis, God created the firmament to separate the "waters above" the earth from those below: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|1:6|KJV}}</ref> The word is anglicized from Latin ''firmamentum'', which appears in the [[Vulgate]]. This, in turn, is a Latinization of the Greek ''stereoma'', used in the Septuagint.

The '''firmament''' (Hebrew word raqiya) is the sky and it is debated on whether the term can be interpreted to mean expanse or whether it should be translated to mean a solid dome.<ref>[http://creation.com/is-the-raqiya-firmament-a-solid-dome Is the raqiya‘ (‘firmament’) a solid dome? Equivocal language in the cosmology of Genesis 1 and the Old Testament: a response to Paul H. Seely] by [[JP Holding|James Patrick Holding]]</ref>  Many modern translations translate the Hebrew word raqiya as "expanse",but the King James Bible (KJV) translated the word as firmament. According to Genesis in the KJV version, God created the firmament to separate the "waters above" the earth from those below: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|1:6|KJV}}</ref> The word is anglicized from Latin ''firmamentum'', which appears in the [[Vulgate]]. This, in turn, is a Latinization of the Greek ''stereoma'', used in the Septuagint.

Nearly all pre-scientific peoples believed that the sky was a solid dome.<ref>[http://creation.com/is-the-raqiya-firmament-a-solid-dome Is the raqiya‘ (‘firmament’) a solid dome? Equivocal language in the cosmology of Genesis 1 and the Old Testament: a response to Paul H. Seely] by [[JP Holding|James Patrick Holding]]</ref> "Firm is the sky and firm is the earth," according the ''Rig Veda,'' an Indian scripture.<ref name="Mesopotamia">"[http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/OTeSources/01-Genesis/Text/Articles-Books/Seely-Firmament-WTJ.pdf The Firmament and the Water Above]", Westminster Theological Journal, 53 (1991), 232–233.</ref>

Nearly all pre-scientific peoples believed that the sky was a solid dome.<ref>[http://creation.com/is-the-raqiya-firmament-a-solid-dome Is the raqiya‘ (‘firmament’) a solid dome? Equivocal language in the cosmology of Genesis 1 and the Old Testament: a response to Paul H. Seely] by [[JP Holding|James Patrick Holding]]</ref> "Firm is the sky and firm is the earth," according the ''Rig Veda,'' an Indian scripture.<ref name="Mesopotamia">"[http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/OTeSources/01-Genesis/Text/Articles-Books/Seely-Firmament-WTJ.pdf The Firmament and the Water Above]", Westminster Theological Journal, 53 (1991), 232–233.</ref>