THEATMOSPHERICHEAVENS 43narrow conceptions of the ancient Book, translates
theword"hammeredplates." Inso doing,heshows
moreinventionthanknowledge.
Thewordraqia, fromwhich"firmament" istrans-
lated, is from a root word meaning to hammer or
pound. Theidea of "plates" isnot inthe original
word. Itwaswhollysuppliedbythismodernskeptic.
Tohammermetaloutintoplatesistocauseittoex-
pand;and sointimethewordwhich atfirstmeant
onlytohammer,cametomeantoexpand.
Thus inthe Hebrewlanguage, the word hastwo
meanings;one,tohammer;andtheother,to expand.
And thatwhich wasexpanded was called raqia, an
expanse. But not once in the Hebrew Bible does
thiswordstandforourtwoEnglishwords"hammered
plates." Infact,thereisnosuchexpressionas"ham-
mered plates" anywhere in the Bible. The nearest
likeitaretheterms"beatengold"and"beatenwork"
;butforthese,entirelydiflferentwordsin Hebreware
used.
The only suggestion, in the Hebrew, of the idea
giveninthecrudetranslation ofthemoderncritic is
foundintwoexpressions. ThusinEx. 30 :3,weread
of gold beaten into thin plates. Buthere the root
wordappearsinordertorepresentthespreadingout
ofthemetalbythebeating, and a separatewordis
used for"plates." Theother exampleis Isa. 40 :19,
where the goldsmith is mentioned as spreading an
image over with gold. But itis forthe "spreading
over"thattherootwordishere used,andnot atall
forthemetal,whichisindicatedbyanotherword.