Discovery BoxGenesis 1:6 
Context1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse 1 in the midst of the waters and let it separate water 2 from water.
Genesis 1:10
Context1:10 God called the dry ground “land” 3 and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.
Genesis 7:19
Context7:19 The waters completely inundated 4 the earth so that even 5 all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.
Genesis 8:7-8
Context8:7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying 6 back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.
8:8 Then Noah 7 sent out a dove 8 to see if the waters had receded 9 from the surface of the ground.
1 tn The Hebrew word refers to an expanse of air pressure between the surface of the sea and the clouds, separating water below from water above. In v. 8 it is called “sky.”
sn An expanse. In the poetic texts the writers envision, among other things, something rather strong and shiny, no doubt influencing the traditional translation “firmament” (cf. NRSV “dome”). Job 37:18 refers to the skies poured out like a molten mirror. Dan 12:3 and Ezek 1:22 portray it as shiny. The sky or atmosphere may have seemed like a glass dome. For a detailed study of the Hebrew conception of the heavens and sky, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World (AnBib), 37-60.
2 tn Heb “the waters from the waters.”
3 tn Heb “earth,” but here the term refers to the dry ground as opposed to the sea.
4 tn Heb “and the waters were great exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition emphasizes the depth of the waters.
5 tn Heb “and.”
6 tn Heb “and it went out, going out and returning.” The Hebrew verb יָצָא (yatsa’), translated here “flying,” is modified by two infinitives absolute indicating that the raven went back and forth.
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn The Hebrew text adds “from him.” This has not been translated for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.
9 tn The Hebrew verb קָלָל (qalal) normally means “to be light, to be slight”; it refers here to the waters receding.
