The meaning of Sky in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
ski (shachaq, "fine dust" or "cloud," apparently from [?] shachaq, "to rub," "to pulverize"; Samaritan: shechaqayyah instead of Hebrew shamayim; sachq = "cloud," "small dust"):
1. In the Old Testament:
The Revised Version (British and American) has "skies" for the King James Version "clouds" in Job 35:5; Job 36:28; Job 37:21; Psalms 36:5; Psalms 57:10; Psalms 68:34; Psalms 78:23; Psalms 108:4; Proverbs 3:20; Proverbs 8:28, in which passages BDB supports the rendering of King James Version. In Psalms 89:6, Psalms 89:37 Revised Version (British and American) has "sky" for King James Version "heaven." English Versions has "sky" in Deuteronomy 33:26; II Samuel 22:12; Job 37:18; Psalms 18:11; Psalms 77:1; Isaiah 45:8; Jeremiah 51:9. The word occurs mainly in poetical passages.
2. In the New Ttestament:
In the New Testament ouranos, is translated "heaven" (the King James Version "sky") in connection with the weather in Matthew 16:2-3; Luke 12:56. In Hebrews 11:12 we find "the stars of heaven" ("the sky") as a figure of multitude. The conception, however, that the visible "sky" is but the dome-like floor of a higher world often makes it hard to tell whether "heaven" in certain passages may or may not be identified with the sky.
See HEAVEN; COSMOGONY.
Alfred Ely Day
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