John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 1:8
And God called the firmament heaven ,.... Including the starry and airy heavens: it has its name from its height in the Arabic language, it being above the earth, and reaching to the third heaven; though others take the word "shamaim" to be a compound of two words, "sham" and "maim", that is, there are waters, namely, in the clouds of heaven: and the evening; and the morning were the second day ; these together made up the space of twenty four hours, which was another natural day; the... read more
John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 1:7
And God made the firmament ,.... By a word speaking, commanding it into being, producing it out of the chaos, and spreading it in that vast space between the heaven of heavens and our earth F26 ------and God made The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, Transparent, elemental air, diffused In circuit to the uttermost convex Of this great round.------ Milton, Paradise Lost, B. 7. l. 263, &c.; , And divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above... read more