God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
Parallel translations
- KJV And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
- BSB So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.
- ESV And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.
- NKJV Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
- NASB God made the expanse, and separated the waters that were below the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so.
- NLT And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 8:28–29when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,
- Ps 148:4Praise him, you heavens of heavens, You waters that are above the heavens.
- Matt 8:27The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
- Job 38:8–11“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
- Gen 1:9God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
- Job 26:8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them.
- Gen 1:15and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
- Gen 1:24God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
- Eccl 11:3If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be.
- Gen 1:11God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so.
- Ps 104:10He sends springs into the valleys. They run among the mountains.
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
The beloved devotional-pastoral classic, free and public domain — warm, quotable, verse by verse.
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 1:7 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.