Bible Dictionary
SKY
The sky is the visible expanse above the earth, often associated in Scripture with clouds and the heavens. Biblical language may use “sky” and “heaven” in closely related ways, especially in poetic passages.
Definition
The sky is the visible expanse above the earth, especially as associated with clouds, weather, and the heavens. Biblical usage sometimes makes “sky” and “heaven” difficult to distinguish.
Biblical Usage
The sky appears mainly in poetic passages and in descriptions of clouds, weather, and the stars. The stars of heaven or sky are used as a figure for multitude.
Historical Background
The Old Testament term can mean cloud or fine dust, while the New Testament word for heaven is sometimes translated sky in passages concerning weather. The visible sky is presented as dome-like in relation to a higher world.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ski (shachaq, "fine dust" or "cloud," apparently from [?] shachaq, "to rub," "to pulverize"; Samaritan: shechaqayyah instead of Hebrew shamayim; sachq = "cloud," "small dust"):</p><p>1. In the Old Testament:</p><p>The Revised Version (British and American) has "skies" for the King James Version "clouds" in Job 35:5; 36:28; 37:21; Ps 36:5; 57:10; 68:34; 78:23; 108:4; Pr 3:20; 8:28, in which passages BDB supports the rendering of King James Version. In Ps 89:6,37 Revised Version (British and American) has "sky" for King James Version "heaven." English Versions has "sky" in De 33:26; 2Sa 22:12; Job 37:18; Ps 18:11; 77:1; Isa 45:8; Jer 51:9. The word occurs mainly in poetical passages.</p><p>2. In the New Ttestament:</p><p>In the New Testament ouranos, is translated "heaven" (the King James Version "sky") in connection with the weather in Mt 16:2,3; Lu 12:56. In Heb 11:12 we find "the stars of heaven" ("the sky") as a figure of multitude. The conception, however, that the visible "sky" is but the dome-like floor of a higher world often makes it hard to tell whether "heaven" in certain passages may or may not be identified with the sky.</p><p>See HEAVEN; COSMOGONY.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>