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הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל The waters which are above Proponents of a local firmament, that is the atmosphere, hold to one of two interpretations. The ambiguity allows either one. The most natural and expected is that the waters above are the clouds. Faced with evidence from the text of different conditions on the early texts and clues to a milder overall climate, others have proposed some kind of vaporous or ice layer in the upper atmosphere. However these waters above ( מֵעַ֣ל ) the firmament were possibly much further away. The format with both below and above appears to have the positions at extremes. The prefixes "m" and "l" are used in format " from here to there". Compare " מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ" with " מִתַּ֣חַת לָרָקִ֔יעַ". This leads some scientists to merge the text with observations of nature. The result works well both in nature and supernatural metaphor. The waters that once were together are now separated by insurmou...

רָקִ֖יעַ בְּתֹ֣וךְ An expanse within Left to itself, the new "water universe" was a competitive community of electrons, nuclea and photons with gravity overpowering the other forces. If God had not spoken again, His work so far would have collapsed in on itself. But once God starts something, He doesn't stop. He speaks again, beginning another day of creation . This time, he calls on the majority of the universal waters to be spread out (Heb: רָקַע raqa` ). The noun form in the text is רָקִ֖יעַ (raqi`a), an expanding wall of water coming from deep within ( תָּוֶךְ tevek) the sphere . God proves to be several steps ahead of nature from the very beginning. As the water is agitated, perhaps by microwaves of compressed light, it rises through the mass toward the voice that called it.