The Bible and Information Theory
Genesis 1: the firmament chapter
Thanksgiving Hymn preserves ancient meaning of 'raqia'
The following is a slightly edited text of Genesis 1 from the Authorized Version (KJV):
Red color and italicized text highlights possible glosses dating from hellenistic times. The alterations effectively identified the solid 'raqia', or firmament, previously the earth's crust, with the rigid sky of the Greeks.
The 4 occurrances of the word 'firmament' in verses 6-7 are replaced by 'solid layer'.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided
the light from the darkness.
5
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a solid
layer [Heb: 'raqia'] in the midst of
the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the solid
layer, and divided the waters which were under the solid
layer from the waters which were above the
solid layer: and it was so.
8 And
God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening
and the morning were the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together
unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And
God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters
called he Seas: and God saw that
it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed
is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding
seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was
in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven to divide the day from
the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and
years:
15 And let them be for lights in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the
day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he
made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth
in
the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that
moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and
every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature
after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after
his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle
after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his
kind: and God saw that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of
God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the
which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for
meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air,
and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it
was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Copyright © 2010 by Douglas E. Cox
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