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.

And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so.

And God maketh the expanse, and it separateth between the waters which are under the expanse, and the waters which are above the expanse: and it is so.

And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.

And God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse.

And God made a firmament, and he divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament. And so it became.

Et fecit Deus expansionem: et divisit aquas quae erant sub expansione, ab aquis quae erant super expansionem. Et fuit ita.

Then made God the expanse. - Here the distinction between command and execution is made still more prominent than in the third verse. For the word of command stands in one verse, and the effect realized is related in the next. Nay, we have the doing of the thing and the thing done separately expressed. For, after stating that God made the expanse, it is added, "and it was so." The work accomplished took a permanent form, in which it remained a standing monument of divine wisdom and power.

And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] (f) under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so.
(f) As the sea and rivers, from those waters that are in the clouds, which are upheld by God's power, least they should overwhelm the world.

And God made the firmament,.... By a word speaking, commanding it into being, producing it out of the chaos, and spreading it in that vast space between the heaven of heavens and our earth (z),
And divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; the lower part of it, the atmosphere above, which are the clouds full of water, from whence rain descends upon the earth; and which divided between them and those that were left on the earth, and so under it, not yet gathered into one place; as it now does between the clouds of heaven and the waters of the sea. Though Mr. Gregory (a) is of opinion, that an abyss of waters above the most supreme orb is here meant; or a great deep between the heavens and the heaven of heavens, where, as in storehouses, the depth is laid up; and God has his treasures of snow, hail, and rain, and from whence he brought out the waters which drowned the world at the universal deluge. Others suppose the waters above to be the crystalline heaven, which for its clearness resembles water; and which Milton (b) calls the "crystalline ocean",
And it was so: the firmament was accordingly made, and answered this purpose, to divide the waters below it from those above it; or "it was firm" (c), stable and durable; and so it has continued.
(z) ------and God made The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, Transparent, elemental air, diffused In circuit to the uttermost convex Of this great round.------ Milton, Paradise Lost, B. 7. l. 263, &c. (a) Notes and Observations, &c. c. 23. p. 110, &c. (b) Ibid. l. 291. (c) "et factum est firmum", Fagius & Nachmanides in ib.