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Genesis 1:9-13 DAY 3
Creation of the Seas and Earth
Hebrew Text
<ymhwwqy - Let the waters be gatheredAll the waters under the firmament are collected together in one place. This seems to indicate there was one sea and one continent. In the ancient world the sea was thought to surround the one continent earth. Both the sea and the earth were considered circular.
The phrase dja <wqm translated "one place" yet called "seas", (plural) has puzzled commentators. It seems that the singular <y and plural <ymy can be used interchangeably in the OT (Judges 5:17; Ezekiel 27:4, 28:2). All rivers, springs, and wells were thought to come from and return to the sea (Ecc. 1:7).
The LXX has sunagwghn which Wevers believes "was probably chosen to avoid the notion that the earth waters were actually to be collected into one spot" since there are many lakes and streams.
Next - Genesis 1:9-13 -
Circle of the Sea
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