Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Genesis 1:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
God commands an expanse or vault to separate waters above from waters below within the account's ancient world-picture.
Read It With
- Genesis 1:1–2:3
Read verses 6–8 together. The command, its execution, the naming of the expanse as heaven, and the second-day refrain form one act of ordering.
Why This Verse Appears Here
After ordering light and time, the narrative turns to ordering the watery space through separation.
What Remains True
Scripture communicates through ancient human language while truthfully identifying God as the one who orders the world.
How It Can Shape Life
- Do not protect faith by pretending the KJV's 'firmament' is modern scientific terminology; explain the ancient image honestly and ask what claim it serves.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Genesis 1:1–2:3 — God Orders, Fills, and Blesses CreationSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Translations such as firmament, expanse, vault, and dome reflect different judgments about raqia and its ancient cosmological setting.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Reader-facing Scripture wording, verse numbering, paragraph data, and supplied-word markup.
Exact location: Pinned eBible/CrossWire standardized 1769 KJV corpus, Genesis 1:1–2:3
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, verse structure, and the repeated creation formulas.
Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 1:1–2:3
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Material syntax, translation, textual-variant, firmament, image, rule, and seventh-day notes.
Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 translator and study notes
Open NET Genesis 1 ↗