And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.”
Parallel translations
- WEB God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
- KJV And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
- NKJV Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
- NASB Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
- NLT Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God commands an expanse to separate the waters, beginning to shape habitable space. He continues bringing structure to the formless deep.
Overview
On the second day God speaks an 'expanse' (the sky or firmament) into being to divide the waters above from those below. This act of separation, like the dividing of light from darkness, shows God making the world orderly and prepared for life. The passage reflects an ancient picture of the cosmos while teaching the enduring truth that God alone structures and governs the heavens and the earth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Jer 51:15The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Job 37:18can you, like Him, spread out the skies to reflect the heat like a mirror of bronze?
- Ps 33:6By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
- Job 26:7–8He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
- Jer 10:12–13The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Ps 104:2He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,
- Ps 148:4Praise Him, O highest heavens, and you waters above the skies.
- Ps 33:9For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.
- Ps 136:5–6By His insight He made the heavens. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Ps 19:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
- Zech 12:1This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:
- Ps 150:1Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens.
- Gen 1:20And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
- Job 26:13By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
- Gen 7:11–12In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
- Job 37:11He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them.
- Job 38:22–26Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
- Gen 1:14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.
- Eccl 11:3If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain upon the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
- Jer 10:10But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Lay
The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.
Pastoral
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 1:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.