'Sky' in the Bible

God called the expanse "sky." There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear." It was so.

God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years,

and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." It was so.

God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth,

God said, "Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."

I am about to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. Everything that is on the earth will die,

and also seven of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of the earth.

The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.

So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.

The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, and the rain stopped falling from the sky.

Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority.

The Lord took him outside and said, "Gaze into the sky and count the stars -- if you are able to count them!" Then he said to him, "So will your descendants be."

Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord.

I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the strongholds of their enemies.

I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.

May God give you the dew of the sky and the richness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.

So his father Isaac said to him, "Indeed, your home will be away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the sky above.

because of the God of your father, who will help you, because of the sovereign God, who will bless you with blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Extend your hand toward the sky that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, and on everything that grows in the field in the land of Egypt."

When Moses extended his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire fell to the earth; so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself.

I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze.

The Lord your God has increased your population to the point that you are now as numerous as the very stars of the sky.

You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it and yet dark with a thick cloud.

any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky,

When you look up to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars -- the whole heavenly creation -- you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the Lord your God has assigned them to all the people of the world.

When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will close up the sky so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you.

The sky above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron.

The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off.

There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, because you will have disobeyed the Lord your God.

Of Joseph he said: May the Lord bless his land with the harvest produced by the sky, by the dew, and by the depths crouching beneath;

There is no one like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the sky to help you, on the clouds in majesty.

When the men of Ai turned around, they saw the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.

As they fled from Israel on the slope leading down from Beth Horon, the Lord threw down on them large hailstones from the sky, all the way to Azekah. They died -- in fact, more died from the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.

The sun stood still and the moon stood motionless while the nation took vengeance on its enemies. The event is recorded in the Scroll of the Upright One. The sun stood motionless in the middle of the sky and did not set for about a full day.

From the sky the stars fought, from their paths in the heavens they fought against Sisera.

As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the Lord's messenger went up in it while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown to the ground.

But when the signal, a pillar of smoke, began to rise up from the city, the Benjaminites turned around and saw the whole city going up in a cloud of smoke that rose high into the sky.

The Philistine said to David, "Come here to me, so I can give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the field!"

This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God

The earth heaved and shook; the foundations of the sky trembled. They heaved because he was angry.

He made the sky sink as he descended; a thick cloud was under his feet.

The Lord thundered from the sky; the sovereign One shouted loudly.

Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky.

"God does not really live on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!

When Solomon finished presenting all these prayers and requests to the Lord, he got up from before the altar of the Lord where he had kneeled and spread out his hands toward the sky.

Dogs will eat the members of your family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country."' Indeed, the Lord has announced it!

Dogs will eat the members of Baasha's family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country."

Then fire from the Lord fell from the sky. It consumed the offering, the wood, the stones, and the dirt, and licked up the water in the trench.

Meanwhile the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind blew, and there was a heavy rainstorm. Ahab rode toward Jezreel.

As for Ahab's family, dogs will eat the ones who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country."

Elijah replied to the captain, "If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!" Fire then came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

Elijah replied to them, "If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!" Fire from God came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

Indeed, fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. So now, please have respect for my life."

An officer who was the king's right-hand man responded to the prophet, "Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?" Elisha said, "Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!"

But the officer replied to the prophet, "Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?" Elisha said, "Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!"

They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, and worshiped Baal.

Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: "Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth.

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them.

In the two courtyards of the Lord's temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky.

The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, and the guards to bring out of the Lord's temple all the items that were used in the worship of Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. The king burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.

He eliminated the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)

David looked up and saw the Lord's messenger standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.

David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. He called out to the Lord, and the Lord responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar.

David did not count the males twenty years old and under, for the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky.

O Lord, you are great, mighty, majestic, magnificent, glorious, and sovereign over all the sky and earth! You have dominion and exalt yourself as the ruler of all.

Of course, who can really build a temple for him, since the sky and the highest heavens cannot contain him? Who am I that I should build him a temple! It will really be only a place to offer sacrifices before him.

Huram also said, "Worthy of praise is the Lord God of Israel, who made the sky and the earth! He has given David a wise son who has discernment and insight and will build a temple for the Lord, as well as a royal palace for himself.

Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet long, seven and one-half feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky,

"God does not really live with humankind on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!

When I close up the sky so that it doesn't rain, or command locusts to devour the land's vegetation, or send a plague among my people,

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them.

In the two courtyards of the Lord's temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky.

You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land you had told their ancestors to enter in order to possess.

he makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky;

"But now, ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.

For it has been hidden from the eyes of every living creature, and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.

who teaches us more than the wild animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'

From whose womb does the ice emerge, and the frost from the sky, who gives birth to it,

the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea and everything that moves through the currents of the seas.

He made the sky sink as he descended; a thick cloud was under his feet.

The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.

For the music director; a psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky displays his handiwork.

Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth; its words carry to the distant horizon. In the sky he has pitched a tent for the sun.

It emerges from the distant horizon, and goes from one end of the sky to the other; nothing can escape its heat.

By the Lord's decree the heavens were made; by a mere word from his mouth all the stars in the sky were created.

O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky; your faithfulness to the clouds.

Rise up above the sky, O God! May your splendor cover the whole earth!

For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.

Rise up above the sky, O God! May your splendor cover the whole earth!

to the one who rides through the sky from ancient times! Look! He thunders loudly.

People will fear you as long as the sun and moon remain in the sky, for generation after generation.

During his days the godly will flourish; peace will prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky.

May his fame endure! May his dynasty last as long as the sun remains in the sky! May they use his name when they formulate their blessings! May all nations consider him to be favored by God!

He gave a command to the clouds above, and opened the doors in the sky.

He brought the east wind through the sky, and by his strength led forth the south wind.

They have given the corpses of your servants to the birds of the sky; the flesh of your loyal followers to the beasts of the earth.