What is the…
firmament in the Bible

Hebrew: רָקִיעַ —transliteration: raqia or raki'a —meaning: an expanse, visible arch of the sky

“Firmament” in the King James Version is the translators’ word for the sky or heavens as a stretched-out, vault-like expanse arching above us. It is how the KJV renders the Hebrew raqia (רָקִיעַ). The word itself is not original Hebrew; it came into English through Greek and Latin and carries a sense of something firm or supporting.

Most recent English Bibles prefer “expanse,” “sky,” or “vault” instead of “firmament,” because raqia primarily means something spread out rather than something necessarily hard. The ESV, NASB, and others use “expanse.” The NIV often uses “vault.” The difference is interpretive: “firmament” keeps the older Latin/Greek sense of firmness; “expanse” stays closer to the Hebrew root of stretching or beating out.

The word “firmament” appearing in the King James Version of the Bible comes from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate firmamentum, which in turn followed the Greek Septuagint’s stereoma (στερέωμα), “that which is made firm or solid.” Latin firmamentum is built on firmus (“firm, steadfast”). So the English word already leans toward solidity and support, even though that is only part of what the Hebrew conveys. The original Hebrew word these are translating is raqia.

Hebrew

Raqia comes from the verb raqa, “to beat out, stamp, hammer, or spread thinly.” The same verb is used of beating gold into thin sheets (Exodus 39:3) and of overlaying metal. The image is something flattened and stretched, like a metal plate hammered into a broad surface. Strong’s and standard lexicons therefore define it as “an expanse” or “extended surface,” often pictured as the visible vault of the sky.

Job 37:18 uses related language: “Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, Strong as a molten mirror?” That verse is frequently cited because it links the idea of spreading with strength and a polished, metallic surface.

How the KJV uses it in Genesis

The word appears 9 times in Genesis 1:

• Day 2 (Genesis 1:6–8): God places a firmament “in the midst of the waters” to divide the waters above from the waters below, then names the firmament “Heaven.”
• Day 4 (Genesis 1:14–17): The sun, moon, and stars are set “in the firmament of the heaven.”
• Day 5 (Genesis 1:20): Birds fly “in the open firmament of heaven.”

In the KJV, then, the firmament is both the divider of the waters and the space in which the heavenly lights and the birds appear. God calls it Heaven (shamayim), so the two terms overlap.

The remaining KJV occurrences are Psalm 19:1 (“the firmament sheweth his handywork”), Psalm 150:1 (“the firmament of his power”), 5 times in Ezekiel’s visions of a crystal-like expanse above the living creatures, and once in Daniel 12:3 (“the brightness of the firmament”). There are 17 uses in all.

More information

• Answers about the word circuit in the Bible
• What are the heavens of the Bible?
• About stars in the Bible