On the second day God said: “Let there be a firmament[1] made amidst the waters; and let it divide[2] the waters from the waters.” And it was so[3]. God called the firmament heaven[4].
On the third day God said: “Let the waters that are under the heaven[5] be gathered into one place[6]; and let the dry land[7] appear.” And it was so done. God called the dry land earth; and the gathered waters, seas. He also said: “Let the earth[8] bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind.” And it was so done[9].
The fourth day God said: “Let there be lights[10] made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and
- ↑ Firmament. In other words, the atmosphere which surrounds our earth to the height of about 45 miles, and looks to our eyes like a blue dome.
- ↑ Divide. The firmament was to divide one part of the waters from the other part in this way: God made a considerable body of water to ascend, in the form of moisture (clouds), into the atmosphere, thus separating it from the water which remains and flows on the earth.
- ↑ It was so. i. e. it was as God had commanded.
- ↑ Heaven. This is not the heaven where the angels and saints dwell, and contemplate God. A distinction must be made between that heaven, and the visible, natural heaven, i. e. the firmament.
- ↑ Under the heaven, i. e. below the atmosphere, or, in other words, the waters that are on the earth.
- ↑ One place. This one place is the great ocean, out of the midst of which the five parts of the earth rise.
- ↑ Dry land. God made the water to gather itself together into rivers, lakes, and seas, and the dry land to appear. How this happened is described in Psalm 103, 6 and 8: “Above the mountains shall the waters stand. . . . The mountains ascend, and the plains descend into the place which Thou hast founded for them.” The whole earth was covered with water. Then at the command of God, certain parts of the earth’s surface raised themselves up. These became dry, because the water ran off them; and the lower parts of the earth's surface, towards which the water flowed, became the sea. About a quarter of the surface of the globe (accurately 27 per cent) is dry land, and nearly three quarters (accurately 73 per cent), water.
- ↑ Earth. Which was now dry.
- ↑ So done. God made plants of every kind to grow out of the dry ground, and gave them the power of producing their own seed. From these seeds there sprang new plants, and thus the world of plants never died out.
- ↑ Lights. God made the sun, the moon, and the stars, to give light and warmth to the earth. The heavenly bodies were to serve also as measures of time. The rising of the sun brings day to the earth, and its setting, night. According to the relative position of the sun and moon to the earth, time is divided into years, and seasons, and months.
