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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), for example, translated the word as firmament.<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 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.

The '''firmament'''  (Hebrew ''raqiya'') is the sky. 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 name="Holding">[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), for example, translated the word as firmament..<ref name="Holding" /> 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 name="Holding" /> "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>

[[Augustine]] wrote that too much learning had been expended speculating on the nature of the firmament.<ref name="Grant">Grant, Edward, ''Planets, stars, and orbs: the medieval cosmos, 1200-1687''. p. 335.</ref> [[John Calvin]] proposed that firmament be interpreted as clouds. But he did not commit himself to a naturalistic explanation: "As it became a theologian, [Moses] had to respect ''us'' rather than the stars."<ref name="Calvin">Calvin, comment on verse 1:15.</ref>

[[Augustine]] wrote that too much learning had been expended speculating on the nature of the firmament.<ref name="Grant">Grant, Edward, ''Planets, stars, and orbs: the medieval cosmos, 1200-1687''. p. 335.</ref> [[John Calvin]] proposed that firmament be interpreted as clouds. But he did not commit himself to this explanation: "As it became a theologian, [Moses] had to respect ''us'' rather than the stars."<ref name="Calvin">Calvin, comment on verse 1:15.</ref>

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