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What did God create on the second day of creation week?

"And God said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.' And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day" (Genesis 1:6–8).

Here we come to the second day of creation and God begins to build on the foundation He laid on day one. There are two things of note here on day two, which we will cover briefly. First, we see that God has now begun to move the waters which were part of the creation of the earth on day one. God moves these waters twice for two distinct purposes, and here we see the first. God separates the waters by creating an "expanse" between them. Some English translations of the Bible call this a "firmament" (KJV, NKJV).

The Hebrews word is רָקִיעַ (rāqîaʿ) This is considered to be something which physically supports the waters above. We call this our atmosphere, or the sky; both are representative of the same thing. This is only the first movement of the waters; the earth is still covered in water below, but now there is an atmosphere surrounding earth, ready to support the life which God will create later.

While the atmosphere is the only thing created on day two, we cannot overlook the consistency of God's Word in establishing that He is completing this work in six literal days. God concludes the narrative of each day's creation with the same statement: "And there was evening and there was morning, the [ ] day." When God instructs the Israelites to keep the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8–11), He tells them that the seventh day is holy because He labored six days in creation, just as they (the Israelites) labor six days at their work, and then He rested. They were to follow this example because God declared this day (seventh) as holy for them. But that is not all that is being said here; God is affirming that He created everything in six literal days. Thus, the second literal day of creation is completed with the creation of the atmosphere.

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