Bible Strands
Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God acts and speaks at the conclusion of the second creation day, immediately after separating the waters beneath the expanse from those above it.
The words — וַ/יִּקְרָ֧א (va/yik.ra) translates literally as "and he called," and שָׁמָ֑יִם (sha.ma.yim) means "heaven" or "sky," recording the divine naming of the newly formed expanse.
The thread — The text repeats this structural pattern in Genesis 1:5 and Genesis 1:19 with the evening-and-morning formula, while Genesis 1:10 mirrors the divine naming action without the chronological marker.
Why it lands — The passage records a sequential ordering process where spoken designation establishes the identity of created realms before any evaluative statement follows.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Cross-references
- Genesis 1:5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
- Genesis 1:19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
- Genesis 1:10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
- Genesis 1:13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
- Genesis 1:23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
- Genesis 1:31 And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
- Genesis 5:2 Male and female He created them, and He blessed them. And in the day they were created, He called them “man.”