And God said: Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Ibn Ezra
“And He said”, the Gaon said regarding the firmament (raki’a) things that could not be; rather its explanation is “extended”, like “they were extended” (vayerak’u) Exodus 39:3, “I shall extend them” (erka’em Samuel II 22:43, and similarly, “and He stretched them [i.e., the heavens] out like a tent for dwelling”. Isaiah 40:22. And how profound is the word of the one who says that the edges of the sun are with the edges of the waters of the oceans. Now this firmament is the atmosphere, for when the light coalesced over the earth and a dry wind from the earth, the blade/flame was changed and became the firmament. And thus did it say in a Psalm Psalms 104:2 “He stretches the heavens like a curtain… the one who makes roofbeams of water”. And it mentions the clouds and the wind and the earth element, which is higher than the water, and thus it writes, “for He founded it upon the seas” Psalms 24:2, “the One Who extends the earth over the waters" Psalms 136:6 and similarly, anyone who goes to the sea is called, “goes down”. The meaning of “the One Who calls to the waters of the sea” Amos 5:8 – so that they should ascend, referring to clouds, and afterwards, “and He pours them out”.
Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.