firmament

thumb|An artist's depiction of the early Hebrew conception of the cosmos. The firmament (raqia), Sheol, and [[Tehom are depicted.]]

In Ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the firmament was a celestial barrier that separated the Heavenly waters above from the Earth below. In Biblical cosmology, the firmament ( rāqīaʿ) was the vast solid dome created by God during the Genesis creation narrative to separate the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear.