'Heaven' in the Bible

“Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die.

He blessed him and said:Abram is blessed by God Most High,Creator of heaven and earth,

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand in an oath to Yahweh, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is.

But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”He replied, “Here I am.”

Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven

and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.

He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of furnace soot, and Moses is to throw it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

So they took furnace soot and stood before Pharaoh. Moses threw it toward heaven, and it became festering boils on man and beast.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt—on man and beast and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.”

So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail. Lightning struck the earth, and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”

So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow My instructions.

The Lord then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.”

Then the Lord told Moses, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

Today I will begin to put the fear and dread of you on the peoples everywhere under heaven. They will hear the report about you, tremble, and be in anguish because of you.’

Lord God, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like Yours?

When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the array of heaven—do not be led astray to bow down and worship them. The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven.

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.

He let you hear His voice from heaven to instruct you. He showed you His great fire on earth, and you heard His words from the fire.

Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other.

He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

Leave Me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’

When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven. Do not forget.

Look down from Your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

The Lord will not be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that person, and every curse written in this scroll will descend on him. The Lord will blot out his name under heaven,

It is not in heaven so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,

Assemble all your tribal elders and officers before me so that I may speak these words directly to them and call heaven and earth as witnesses against them.

I raise My hand to heaven and declare:As surely as I live forever,

When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.

The men who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

Rizpah, Aiah’s daughter, took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvest until the rain poured down from heaven on the bodies. She kept the birds of the sky from them by day and the wild animals by night.

The Lord thundered from heaven;the Most High projected His voice.

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

He said:Lord God of Israel,there is no God like Youin heaven above or on earth below,keeping the gracious covenantwith Your servants who walk before Youwith their whole heart.

But will God indeed live on earth?Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You,much less this temple I have built.

Hear the petition of Your servantand Your people Israel,which they pray toward this place.May You hear in Your dwelling place in heaven.May You hear and forgive.

may You hear in heaven and act.May You judge Your servants,condemning the wicked man by bringingwhat he has done on his own headand providing justice for the righteousby rewarding him according to his righteousness.

may You hear in heavenand forgive the sin of Your people Israel.May You restore them to the landYou gave their ancestors.

may You hear in heavenand forgive the sin of Your servantsand Your people Israel,so that You may teach them the good waythey should walk in.May You send rain on Your landthat You gave Your people for an inheritance.

may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,and may You forgive, act, and repay the man,according to all his ways, since You know his heart,for You alone know every human heart,

may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,and do according to all the foreigner asks You for.Then all the people on earth will know Your name,to fear You as Your people Israel doand know that this temple I have builtis called by Your name.

may You hear their prayer and petition in heavenand uphold their cause.

may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.

When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven,

Elijah responded to the captain of the 50, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men.

Elijah responded, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men.” So a divine fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men.

Already fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of 50 with their fifties, but this time let my life be precious in your sight.”

The time had come for the Lord to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal,

As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind.

Then the captain, the king’s right-hand man, responded to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?”Elisha announced, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”

this captain had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” Elisha had said, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”

However, the Lord had not said He would blot out the name of Israel under heaven, so He delivered them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.

When David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell down with their faces to the ground.

He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord, and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.

David didn’t count the men aged 20 or under, for the Lord had said He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of heaven.

But who is able to build a temple for Him, since even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him? Who am I then that I should build a temple for Him except as a place to burn incense before Him?

For Solomon had made a bronze platform 7½ feet long, 7½ feet wide, and 4½ feet high and put it in the court. He stood on it, knelt down in front of the entire congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.

He said:Lord God of Israel,there is no God like Youin heaven or on earth,keeping His gracious covenantwith Your servants who walk before Youwith their whole heart.

But will God indeed live on earth with man?Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You,much less this temple I have built.

Hear the petitions of Your servantand Your people Israel,which they pray toward this place.May You hear in Your dwelling place in heaven.May You hear and forgive.

may You hear in heaven and act.May You judge Your servants,condemning the wicked man by bringingwhat he has done on his own headand providing justice for the righteousby rewarding him according to his righteousness.

may You hear in heavenand forgive the sin of Your people Israel.May You restore them to the landYou gave them and their ancestors.

may You hear in heavenand forgive the sin of Your servantsand Your people Israel,so that You may teach them the good waythey should walk in.May You send rain on Your landthat You gave Your people for an inheritance.

may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,and may You forgive and repay the manaccording to all his ways, since You know his heart,for You alone know the human heart,

may You hear in heaven in Your dwelling place,and do all the foreigner asks You.Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name,to fear You as Your people Israel doand know that this temple I have builtis called by Your name.

may You hear their prayer and petition in heavenand uphold their cause.

may You hear their prayer and petitions in heaven,Your dwelling place,and uphold their cause.May You forgive Your peoplewho sinned against You.

When Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

He said:Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, are You not the God who is in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can stand against You.

A prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Look, the Lord God of your ancestors handed them over to you because of His wrath against Judah, but you slaughtered them in a rage that has reached heaven.

Then the priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard their voice, and their prayer came into His holy dwelling place in heaven.

King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven,

This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a temple at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you of His people may go up, and may the Lord his God be with him.

This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.

This is the reply they gave us: We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

But since our fathers angered the God of heaven, He handed them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, or wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—let it be given to them every day without fail,

so that they can offer sacrifices of pleasing aroma to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of heaven: Greetings.

I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers in the region west of the Euphrates River: Whatever Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of heaven, asks of you must be provided promptly,

Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven must be done diligently for the house of the God of heaven, so that wrath will not fall on the realm of the king and his sons.

When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

I said,Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant with those who love Him and keep His commands,

Then the king asked me, “What is your request?”So I prayed to the God of heaven

I gave them this reply, “The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success. We, His servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”

You came down on Mount Sinai,and spoke to them from heaven.You gave them impartial ordinances, reliable instructions,and good statutes and commands.

You provided bread from heaven for their hunger;You brought them water from the rock for their thirst.You told them to go in and possess the landYou had sworn to give them.

You multiplied their descendantslike the stars of heavenand brought them to the landYou told their ancestors to go in and take possession of it.

So You handed them over to their enemies,who oppressed them.In their time of distress, they cried out to You,and You heard from heaven.In Your abundant compassionYou gave them deliverers, who rescued themfrom the power of their enemies.

But as soon as they had relief,they again did what was evil in Your sight.So You abandoned them to the power of their enemies,who dominated them.When they cried out to You again,You heard from heaven and rescued themmany times in Your compassion.

He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “A lightning storm struck from heaven. It burned up the sheep and the servants and devoured them, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Even now my witness is in heaven,and my advocate is in the heights!

Though his arrogance reaches heaven,and his head touches the clouds,