Nowhere does the Bible refer to little holes in a metal dome through which the drops fall. But this makes no sense if the sky is a metal dome. Third, the Bible speaks of rain falling through the sky ( Job 36:27–28). Isaiah, for example, spoke of the Lord “who sits on the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. This same verb is used of extending curtains or tents in which to dwell, which would make no sense if there was no empty space there in which to live. Isaiah wrote, “So says Jehovah God, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, spreading out the earth and its offspring ( Isa. Second, the root meaning “spread out” can be used independently of “beat out,” as it is in several passages (cf. 40:19), so the firmament is a thinned out area. Just as metal spreads out when beaten (cf. First, the related word raqa (beat out, spread out) is correctly rendered “expanse” by many recent translations.
When used of the atmosphere above the earth, “firmament” clearly does not mean something solid. But when we speak of a church board member, the word no longer has that meaning. Originally, the English word “board” referred to a wooden plank. However, meaning is not determined by origin (etymology), but by usage. Solution: It is true that the origin of the Hebrew word raqia meant a solid object. But this is in clear conflict with the modern scientific understanding of space as non-solid and largely empty.
1:6 ) is defined in the Hebrew lexicon as a solid object. Indeed, the Hebrew word for the “firmament” ( raqia ) which God created (cf. Problem: Job speaks of God who “spread out the skies” like “a cast metal mirror” ( 37:18 ). Job 37:18 -Does the Bible err in speaking of a solid dome above the earth?