Word For the Day Genesis 1:6 (KJV)

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

COMMENTARY: Firmament is an "expanse" between the waters suspended by God in vapor form over the earth. Most likely, approximately half of the waters upon the earth were supernaturally elevated above the atmosphere, perhaps in the form of an invisible vapor canopy. This would have trapped the earth's heat with a "greenhouse effect," and would have provided a uniformly tropical climate everywhere, until it collapsed upon the earth during the universal rainfall at the time of the great flood (7:11). This might explain the longevity described in Genesis 5, in addition to providing a water source for the Flood of chapters 6-9.