And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Parallel translations
- WEB God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
- BSB God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
- NKJV And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
- NASB God called the expanse “heaven.” And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
- NLT God called the space “sky.” And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.
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 names the expanse 'sky,' and the second day ends. He continues to order and rule over each part of creation.
Overview
By naming the expanse 'sky,' God again asserts his authority over the cosmos he is forming. The familiar refrain closes the second day, maintaining the deliberate, ordered structure of the creation account. The careful sequence reminds us that the same God who arranges the heavens watches over his people with the same purposeful care.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 1:5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
- Gen 1:19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
- Gen 1:23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
- Gen 1:10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
- Gen 1:13And the evening and the morning were the third day.
- Gen 1:31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
- Gen 5:2Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
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 1:8 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.