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Firmament

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Firmament
Thompson Chain Reference
• Firmament
Dictionaries
American Tract Society
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
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Fausset Bible Dictionary
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Holman Bible Dictionary
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Hastings' BibleDictionary
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King James Dictionary
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Morrish Bible Dictionary
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1910 New Catholic Dictionary
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People's Bible Dictionary
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Smith Bible Dictionary
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Webster Dictionary
• Firmamental
• Firmament
Watson's Theological Dictionary
• Firmament
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Firmament
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
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McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
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• Firmament, in Christian Art
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
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The Catholic Encyclopedia
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The Jewish Encyclopedia
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Lexicons
Girdleston's OT Synonyms
• Firmament
• רָקִיעַ

the sky, the heavens. In the Vulgate the word firmamentum, which means in classical Latin a strengthening or support (firmare, to make firm or strong) was used as the equivalent of crepEWµa (ammpE6 v, to make firm or solid) in the LXX., which translates the Heb. ragiya ` . The Hebrew probably signifies literally "expanse," and is thus used of the expanse or vault of the sky, the verb from which it is derived meaning "to beat out." In Syriac the verb means "to make firm," and is the direct source of the Gr. arEpEwµa and the Lat. firmamentum. In ancient astronomy the firmament was the eighth sphere containing the fixed stars surrounding the seven spheres of the planets.