Editing Biblical cosmology

{{About|the Cosmology of the Bible|an overview of approaches to the Cosmos in its totality|Cosmology|religious cosmology in particular|Religious cosmology}}

[[File:God the Geometer.jpg|thumb|250px|God creating the cosmos (Bible Moralisee, French, 13th century)]]

'''Biblical cosmology''' is the biblical writers' conception of the [[Cosmos]] as an organised, structured entity, including its [[Cosmogony|origin]], [[Cosmography|order]], [[Moral universe|meaning]] and [[Eschatology|destiny]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lucas|2003|p=130}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Knight|1991|p=175}}</ref>

The Bible was [[Biblical Canon|formed over many centuries]], by [[Authorship of the Bible|many authors]], and reflects [[Internal consistency of the Bible|shifting patterns of religious belief]]; consequently, its concepts of cosmology can be inconsistent.<ref>{{harvnb|Bernstein|1996|p=134}}</ref><ref name="Berlin 2011 188">{{harvnb|Berlin|2011|p=188}}</ref> Nor should the Biblical texts be taken to represent the beliefs of all [[Jews]] or [[Christians]] at the time they were put into writing: the majority of those making up [[Hebrew Bible]] or [[Old Testament]] in particular represent the beliefs of only a small segment of the ancient Israelite community, the members of a late Judean religious tradition centered in [[Jerusalem#Ancient period|Jerusalem]] and devoted to the exclusive worship of [[Yahweh]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2002|p=52}}</ref>

The universe of the Hebrew Bible was made up of a [[Flat Earth|flat disc-shaped earth]] floating on water, [[heaven]] above, [[underworld]] below.<ref name="Aune2003p119">{{harvnb|Aune|2003|p=119}}</ref> Humans inhabited earth during life and the underworld after death, and the underworld was morally neutral;<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2002|pp=117,124–125}}</ref> only in [[Hellenistic]] times (after c.330 BCE) did Jews begin to adopt the [[Hades|Greek idea]] that it would be a place of punishment for misdeeds, and that the righteous would enjoy an [[afterlife]] in heaven.<ref name="Lee 2010 77–78">{{harvnb|Lee|2010|pp=77–78}}</ref> In this period too the older three-level cosmology was widely replaced by the Greek concept of a [[spherical earth]] suspended in [[space]] at the [[geocentric|centre]] of a number of [[Celestial spheres|concentric heavens]].<ref name="Aune2003p119"/>

The opening words of the [[Genesis creation narrative]] (Genesis 1:1-26) sum up the authors' view of how the cosmos originated: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"; [[Yahweh]], the god of Israel, was solely responsible for creation and had no rivals.<ref name="Wright 2002 53">{{harvnb|Wright|2002|p=53}}</ref> Later Jewish thinkers, adopting ideas from Greek philosophy, concluded that [[Wisdom of God|God's Wisdom]], [[Logos|Word]] and [[Holy Spirit (Judaism)|Spirit]] had shared in the creative act.<ref name="Kaiser 1997 28">{{harvnb|Kaiser|1997|p=28}}</ref> Christianity in turn adopted these ideas and identified [[Jesus]] with the [[Logos (Christianity)|creative word]]: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" ([[John 1:1]]).<ref name="Parrish 1990 183–184">{{harvnb|Parrish|1990|pp=183–184}}</ref>

== Cosmogony (origins of the cosmos) ==
[[Image:Destruction of Leviathan.png|right|200px|thumb|"The Destruction of [[Leviathan]]" ([[Gustave Doré]], 1865)]]
{{See also|Cosmogony}}

=== Divine battle vs divine speech ===
Two different models of the process of creation existed in ancient Israel. In the "[[logos]]" (speech) model, God speaks and shapes unresisting dormant matter into effective existence and order (Psalm 33: "By the word of YHWH the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts; he gathers up the waters like a mound, stores the Deep in vaults"); in the second, or "[[agon]]" (struggle) model, God does battle with the monsters of the sea at the beginning of the world in order to mark his sovereignty and power.<ref name="Fishbane2005p34-35">{{harvnb|Fishbane|2005|pp=34–35}}</ref> Psalm 74 evokes the agon model: it opens with a lament over God's desertion of his people and their tribulations, then asks him to remember his past deeds: "You it was who smashed Sea with your might, who battered the heads of the monsters in the waters; You it was who crushed the heads of Leviathan, who left them for food for the denizens of the desert..."<ref name="Fishbane2005p34-35"/> In this world-view the seas are primordial forces of disorder, and the work of creation is preceded by a divine combat (or "[[theomachy]]").<ref>{{harvnb|Fishbane|2005|p=39}}</ref>

Creation in the "agon" model takes the following storyline: (1) God as the divine warrior battles the monsters of [[Chaos (cosmogony)|chaos]], who include [[Yam (god)|Sea]], [[Mot (Semitic god)|Death]], [[Tannin (demon)|Tannin]] and [[Leviathan]]; (2)  The world of nature joins in the battle and the chaos-monsters are defeated; (3) [[Throne of God|God is enthroned]] on a divine mountain, surrounded by lesser deities; (4) He speaks, and nature brings forth the created world,<ref name="Aune2003p118">{{harvnb|Aune|2003|p=118}}</ref> or for the Greeks, the [[cosmos]]. This myth was taken up in later Jewish and Christian [[apocalyptic]] literature and [[Eschatology|projected into the future]], so that cosmic battle becomes the decisive act at the end of the world's history:<ref name="Aune2003p118"/> thus the [[Book of Revelation]] (end of the 1st century CE) tells how, after the God's final victory over the sea-monsters, [[New Heavens and New Earth]] shall be inaugurated in a cosmos in which there will be "no more sea" (Revelation 21:1).<ref>{{harvnb|Mabie|2008|p=50}}</ref>

The [[Genesis creation narrative]] (Genesis 1) is the quintessential "logos" creation myth. Like the "agon" model it begins with darkness and the uncreated [[primordial ocean]]:<ref>{{harvnb|Mabie|2008|pp=47–48}}</ref> God separates and restrains the waters, but he does not [[Ex nihilo|create them from nothing]].<ref name="Berlin 2011 189">{{harvnb|Berlin|2011|p=189}}</ref> God initiates each creative act with a spoken word ("God said, Let there be..."), and finalises it with the giving of a name.<ref name="Walton2003p158"/> Creation by speech is not unique to the Old Testament: it was unknown in [[Mesopotamian mythology#Mythology|ancient Mesopotamian cosmology]], but was an important factor in the [[Egyptian mythology#Cosmology|Egyptian tradition]].<ref name="Walton2003p158">{{harvnb|Walton|2003|p=158}}</ref> There is, however, a difference between the Egyptian and Hebrew logos mythologies: in Genesis 1 the divine word of the [[Elohim]] is an act of "making into"; the word of Egyptian creator-god, by contrast, is an almost magical activation of something inherent in pre-creation: as such, it goes beyond the concept of fiat (divine act) to something more like the [[John 1:1|Logos of the Gospel of John]].<ref name="Walton2003p158"/>

=== Naming: God, Wisdom, Torah and Christ ===
In the ancient world, things did not exist until they were named: "The name of a living being or an object was ... the very essence of what was defined, and the pronouncing of a name was to create what was spoken."<ref name="Walton2003p158"/> The pre-Exilic (before 586 BCE) Old Testament allowed no equals to Yahweh in heaven, despite the continued existence of a [[Heavenly Host|subordinate divine council of servant-deities]].<ref>{{harvnb|Page Lee|1990|pp=176–177}}</ref> The post-Exilic writers of the [[Wisdom]] tradition (e.g. the [[Book of Proverbs]], [[Song of Songs]], etc.) develop the idea that Wisdom, later identified with [[Torah]], existed before creation and was used by God to create the universe:<ref name="Berlin 2011 188"/> "Present from the beginning, Wisdom assumes the role of master builder while God establishes the heavens, restricts the chaotic waters, and shapes the mountains and fields."<ref>{{harvnb|Parrish|1990|p=183}}</ref> Borrowing ideas from Greek philosophers who held that reason bound the universe together, the Wisdom tradition taught that God's Wisdom, Word and Spirit were the ground of cosmic unity.<ref name="Kaiser 1997 28"/> Christianity in turn adopted these ideas and applied them to Jesus: the [[Epistle to the Colossians]] calls Jesus "...image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation...", while the [[Gospel of John]] identifies him with the creative word ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God").<ref name="Parrish 1990 183–184"/>

== Cosmography (shape and structure of the cosmos) ==
[[Image:FlammarionWoodcut.jpg|thumb|right|200px| The [[Flammarion engraving]]. This 19th-century interpretation of the Old Testament cosmos shows a traveler arriving at the edge of a flat earth, where he pokes his head through a star-studded [[firmament]] and observes the heavens beyond.]]
{{See also|Cosmography}}

===Heavens, earth, underworld and cosmic ocean===
The Old Testament imagined a three-part universe, with heaven (''[[shamayim]]'') above, earth (''eres'') in the middle, and the underworld (''[[sheol]]'') below,<ref name="Wright 2002 53"/> surrounded by the original "waters of chaos", the cosmic ocean, separated by God when he created the world. Only after the 4th century BCE was this replaced by a Greek scientific cosmology of a spherical earth surrounded by multiple concentric heavens.<ref name="Aune2003p119"/>

=== The cosmic ocean ===
Below the earth were the "waters of chaos", the cosmic sea, home to mythic monsters defeated and slain by God (Exodus 20:4 warns against making an image "of anything that is in the waters under the earth").<ref name="Wright 2002 53"/> There were also waters above the earth, and so the ''raqia'' ([[firmament]]), a solid bowl, was necessary to keep them from flooding the world.<ref>{{harvnb|Ryken et. al.|1998|p=170}}</ref>

''[[Tehom]]'', the mythological cosmic ocean, covered the earth until God created the firmament to divide it into upper and lower portions and reveal the dry land; the earth has rested ever since in the cosmic sea on its foundations, the mountains.<ref>{{harvnb|Ringgren|1990|pp=91–92}}</ref> The cosmic ''tehom'' is, or was, hostile to God: it confronted him at the beginning of the world (Psalm 104:6ff) but fled from the dry land at his rebuke; he has now set a boundary or bar for it which it can no longer pass (Jerome 5:22 and Job 38:8-10).<ref name="Ringgren1990p92">{{harvnb|Ringgren|1990|p=92}}</ref> The cosmic sea is the home of monsters which God conquers: "By his power he stilled the sea, by his understanding he smote Rahab!" (Job 26:12f).<ref name="Ringgren1990p92"/> (Rahab is an exclusively Hebrew sea-monster; others, including [[Leviathan]] and the ''tannin'', or dragons, are found in [[Ugarit]]ic texts; it is not entirely clear whether they are identical with Sea or are Sea's helpers).<ref>{{harvnb|Ringgren|1990|p=93}}</ref> The "bronze sea" which stood in the forecourt of the Temple in Jerusalem probably corresponds to the "sea" in Babylonian temples, representing the ''[[apsu]]'', the cosmic ocean.<ref>{{harvnb|Ringgren|1990|p=98}}</ref>

In the New Testament Jesus' conquest of the stormy sea shows the conquering deity overwhelming the forces of chaos: a mere word of command from the [[Son of God]] stills the foe (Mark 4:35-41), who then tramples over his enemy, ([[Jesus walking on water]] - Mark 6:45, 47-51).<ref>{{harvnb|Wyatt|2001|pp=105–106}}</ref> In [[Revelation]], where the [[Archangel Michael]] expels the dragon ([[Satan]]) from heaven ("And war broke out in heaven, with Michael and his angels attacking the dragon..." - Revelation 12:7), the motif can be traced back to Leviathan in Israel and to Tiamat, the chaos-ocean, in Babylonian myth, identified with Satan via an interpretation of the serpent in Eden.<ref name="Wyatt 2001 106–107">{{harvnb|Wyatt|2001|pp=106–107}}</ref>

=== Heavens ===
[[File:Michael4.jpg|200px|thumb|The [[Archangel Michael]], a member of the host of divine beings who attend God in heaven, defeating [[Satan]], the dragon of chaos.<ref name="Wyatt 2001 106–107"/>]]

==== Form and structure ====
In the Old Testament the word ''[[shamayim]]'' represented both the sky/atmosphere, and the dwelling place of God.<ref>{{harvnb|Pennington|2007|p=41}}</ref> The ''raqia'' or [[firmament]] - the visible sky - was a solid inverted bowl over the earth, coloured blue from the heavenly ocean above it.<ref>{{harvnb|Pennington|2007|p=42}}</ref> Rain, snow, wind and hail were kept in storehouses outside the raqia, which had "windows" to allow them in - the waters for [[Noah's flood]] entered when the "windows of heaven" were opened.<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2002|p=57}}</ref> Heaven extended down to and was coterminous with (i.e. it touched) the farthest edges of the earth (e.g. Deuteronomy 4:32);<ref name="Wright 2002 54">{{harvnb|Wright|2002|p=54}}</ref> humans looking up from earth saw the floor of heaven, which was made of clear blue [[lapis-lazuli]] (Exodus 24:9-10), as was God's throne (Ezekiel 1:26).<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2002|p=56}}</ref>

Grammatically the word ''shamayim'' can be either dual (two) or plural (more than two), without ruling out the singular (one).<ref>{{harvnb|Pennington|2007|pp=40–41}}</ref> As a result it is not clear whether there were one, two, or more heavens in the Old Testament,<ref>{{harvnb|Collins|2000|pp=23–24}}</ref> but most likely there was only one, and phrases such as "heaven of heavens" were meant to stress the vastness of God's realm.<ref name="Wright 2002 54"/>

The Babylonians had a more complex idea of heaven, and during the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE) the influence of Babylonian cosmology led to the idea of a plurality of heavens among Jews.<ref>{{harvnb|Collins|2000|p=24}}</ref> This continued into the New Testament: [[Revelation]] apparently has only one heaven, but the [[Epistle to the Hebrews]] and the epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians have more than one, although they don't specify how many.<ref>{{harvnb|Collins|2000|p=68}}</ref> The [[apostle Paul]] tells of his visit to the third heaven, the place, according to contemporary thought, where the garden of [[Paradise]] is to be found.<ref name="Lee 2010 147">{{harvnb|Lee|2010|p=147}}</ref>

====God and the heavenly beings====
Israel and Judah, like other [[Canaan]]ite kingdoms, originally had a full pantheon of gods.<ref name="Wright 2002 63">{{harvnb|Wright|2002|p=63}}</ref> The chief of the old Canaanite pantheon was the god [[El (deity)|El]], but over time Yahweh replaced him as the national god and the two merged ("Yahweh-El, creator of heaven and earth" - Genesis 14:22).<ref name="Wright 2002 63"/> The remaining gods were now subject to Yahweh: "Who in the sky is comparable to Yahweh, like Yahweh among the divine beings? A god dreaded in the Council of holy beings...?" (Psalm 89:6-9).<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2002|pp=63–64}}</ref> In the [[Book of Job]] the Council of Heaven, the [[Sons of God]] ''(bene elohim)'' meet in heaven to review events on earth and decide the fate of Job.<ref name="Habel 2006 67">{{harvnb|Habel|2006|p=67}}</ref> One of their number is "the [[Satan]]", literally "the accuser", who travels over the earth much like a Persian imperial spy, (Job dates from the period of the Persian empire), reporting on, and testing, the loyalty of men to God.<ref name="Habel 2006 67"/>

The heavenly bodies (the [[heavenly host]] - sun, moon, and stars) were worshiped as deities, a practice which the bible disapproves and of which righteous Job protests his innocence: "If I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon ... and my mouth has kissed my hand, this also would be an iniquity..."<ref>{{harvnb|Deist|2000|pp=120–121}}</ref> Belief in the divinity of the heavenly bodies explains a passage in Joshua 10:12, usually translated as Joshua asking the sun and moon to stand still, but in fact Joshua utters an incantation to ensure that the sun-god and moon-god, who supported his enemies, would not provide them with oracles.<ref>{{harvnb|Deist|2000|p=121}}</ref>

In the earlier Old Testament texts the ''bene elohim'' were gods, but subsequently they became angels,<ref>{{harvnb|Knight/Levine|2011|p=none}}</ref> the "messengers" (''malakim''), whom Jacob sees going up and down a "ladder" (actually a celestial mountain) between heaven and earth.<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2002|pp=61–62}}</ref> In earlier works the messengers were anonymous, but in the [[Second Temple]] period (539 BCE-100 CE) they began to be given names, and eventually became the vast [[angel]]ic orders of Christianity and Judaism.<ref name="Wright 2002 63"/> Thus the gods and goddesses who had once been the superiors or equals of Yahweh were first made his peers, then subordinate gods, and finally ended as angels in his service.<ref name="Wright 2002 63"/>

==== Paradise and the human soul ====
There is no concept of a human soul, or of eternal life, in the oldest parts of the Old Testament.<ref name="Lee 2010 77–78"/> Death is the going-out of the breath which God once breathed into the dust (Genesis 2:7), all men face the same fate in Sheol, a shadowy existence without knowledge or feeling (Job 14:13; Qoheloth 9:5), and there is no way that mortals can enter heaven.<ref name="Lee 2010 77–78"/> This changed in the centuries after the Babylonian exile, when a belief in afterlife and post-death retribution appeared in Jewish [[apocalyptic]] literature.<ref name="Lee 2010 77–78"/> At much the same time the bible was translated into Greek, and the translators used the Greek word ''paradaisos'' ([[Paradise]]) for the garden of God<ref>{{harvnb|Bremmer|1999|p=1,19}}</ref> and Paradise came to be located in heaven.<ref name="Lee 2010 147"/>

===Earth===
[[File:Baylonianmaps.JPG|right|200px|thumb|[[Babylonian Map of the World]] (c.600 BCE). The Old Testament concept of the earth was very similar: a flat circular earth ringed by a world-ocean, with fabulous islands or mountains beyond at the "ends of the earth".<ref>{{harvnb|Keel|1997|p=20}}</ref>]]

====Cosmic geography====
The biblical earth was a flat disc floating on water.<ref name="Berlin 2011 189"/> The concept was apparently very similar to that depicted in a Babylonian world-map from about 600 BCE:<ref name="Keel 1997 20–22">{{harvnb|Keel|1997|pp=20–22}}</ref> in the centre are cities and rivers and other features from real geography; these are contained in a single circular continent bounded by a circular sea, with seven equally spaced triangles beyond.<ref name="Keel 1997 20–22"/> The triangles are called ''nagu'', "distant regions", but can also be interpreted as islands or mountains.<ref>{{harvnb|Horowitz|1998|p=30ff.}}</ref> The Old Testament also locates islands alongside the earth-disk (Psalm 97:1); they are the "ends of the earth" (Isaiah 41:5), the "foundations" which support the vault of heaven (Psalm 18:7).<ref>{{harvnb|Keel|1997|p=22}}</ref> Pillars or foundations prevent the earth-disk from sinking into the sub-earth waters of Chaos.<ref>{{harvnb|Keel|1997|pp=39–40}}</ref>

A 2nd century BCE work, the [[Book of Enoch]], depicts a journey to the ends of the earth, where, among other wonders, the hero ([[Enoch (ancestor of Noah)|Enoch]], who, according to Genesis 5:29, [[Entering heaven alive|did not die but was "taken" by God]]) encounters a "great river" (the cosmic ocean?), and a mountain in the north near the place where the heavenly luminaries were stored.<ref>{{harvnb|Bautch|2003|pp=233–234}}</ref> In the west he finds another mountain, this one with three dark caverns for the souls of sinners and one well-lit one for the just; in the east he visits the "garden of righteousness" and the [[Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil|Tree of Knowledge]], whose fruits resemble grapes.<ref name="Delumeaup24">{{harvnb|Delumeau|2000|p=24}}</ref> The Book of Enoch was immensely influential in the New Testament period, and is cited in the [[Epistle of Jude]].<ref name="Delumeaup24"/>

====Temples, mountains, gardens and rivers====
In the ancient near east the cosmic warrior-god, after defeating the powers of chaos, would create the world and build his earthly house, the temple.<ref name="Hoppe 2000 24">{{harvnb|Hoppe|2000|p=24}}</ref> Just as the [[abyss (religion)|abyss]], the deepest deep, was the place for Chaos and Death, so God's temple belonged on the high mountain.<ref>{{harvnb|Keel|1997|p=114}}</ref> In ancient Judah the "mountain" (actually little more than a hill) and the location of the Temple was [[Zion]] (Jerusalem),<ref name="Hoppe 2000 24"/> the navel and centre of the world (Ezekiel 5:5 and 38:12).<ref>{{harvnb|Mills|1998|p=xi}}</ref> The Psalms describe [[Throne of God|God sitting enthroned]] over the Flood (the cosmic sea) in his heavenly palace (Psalm 29:10), the eternal king who "lays the beams of his upper chambers in the waters" (Psalm 104:3) - an image which recalls the Mesopotamian god Ea who places his throne in [[Apsu]], the primeval fresh waters beneath the earth, and the Canaanite god [[El (deity)|El]], described in the [[Baal cycle]] as having his palace on a cosmic mountain which is the source of the primordial ocean/water springs.<ref>{{harvnb|Mabie|2008|p=44}}</ref>

In ancient Near Eastern cosmology the point where heavenly and earthly realms join is sometimes depicted as an earthly "garden of God", associated with the temple and royal palace.<ref>{{harvnb|Burnett|2010|p=71}}</ref> [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] 28:12-19 places the garden in [[Garden of Eden|Eden]] on the mountain of the gods;<ref>{{harvnb|Tigghelaar|1999|p=37}}</ref> in Genesis 2-3 Eden's location is more vague, simply far away "in the east",<ref>{{harvnb|Noord|1999|p=28}}</ref> but there is a strong suggestion in both that the garden is attached to a temple or palace.<ref>{{harvnb|Gillingham|2002|p=19}}</ref> In Jerusalem the earthly [[Temple of Solomon|Temple]] was decorated with motifs of the cosmos and the Garden,<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2003|p=169}}</ref> and, like other ancient near eastern temples, its three sections made up a symbolic microcosm, from the outer court (the visible world of land and sea), through the Holy Place (the visible heaven and the garden of God) to the [[Holy of Holies]] (the invisible heaven of God).<ref>{{harvnb|Beale|2004|pp=58–59}}</ref> The imagery of the cosmic mountain and garden of Ezekiel reappears in the New Testament [[Book of Revelation]], applied to the [[New Jerusalem|messianic Jerusalem]], its walls adorned with precious stones, the "river of the water of life" flowing from under its throne (Revelation 22:1-2).<ref>{{harvnb|Delumeau|2000|p=5}}</ref>

A stream  from underground (a subterranean ocean of fresh water?) fertilises Eden before dividing into four rivers that go out to the entire earth (Genesis 2:5-6); in Ezekiel 47:1-12 (see [[Ezekiel's Temple]]) and other prophets the stream issues from the Temple itself, makes the desert bloom, and turns the [[Dead Sea]] from salt to fresh.<ref>{{harvnb|Bautch|2003|pp=71–72}}</ref> Yet the underground waters are ambiguous: they are the source of life-giving rivers, but they are also associated with death (Jeremiah 2:6 and Job 38:16-17 describe how the way to Sheol is through water, and its gates are located at the foot of the mountain at the bottom of the seas).<ref>{{harvnb|Bautch|2003|pp=72–73}}</ref>

=== Underworld ===
[[Image:Ge-Hinnom.jpg|thumb|225px|Valley of Hinnom (or Gehenna), c. 1900. The former site of child-sacrifice and a dumping-ground for the bodies of executed criminals, [[Jeremiah]] prophesied that it would become a "valley of slaughter" and burial place; in later literature it thus became identified with a new idea of Hell as a place where the wicked would be punished.<ref>{{harvnb|Berlin|2011|p=285}}</ref>]]
{{See also|Gehenna|Hell|Sheol|Hades in Christianity}}

====Sheol and the Old Testament====
Beneath the earth is [[Sheol]], the abode of the ''[[rephaim]]'' (shades),<ref>{{harvnb|Bernstein|2006|pp=141–142}}</ref> although it is not entirely clear whether all who died became shades, or only the "mighty dead" (compare Psalm 88:10 with Isaiah 14:9 and 26:14).<ref>{{harvnb|Habel|1975|p=136}}</ref> Some biblical passages state that God has no presence in the underworld: "In death there is no remembrance of Thee, in Sheol who shall give Thee thanks?" (Psalm 6).<ref>{{harvnb|Bernstein|2006|p=143}}</ref> Others imply that the dead themselves are in some sense semi-divine, like the shade of the prophet [[Samuel]], who is called an ''elohim'', the same word used for God and gods.<ref>{{harvnb|Bernstein|2006|pp=138–139}}</ref> Still other passages state God's power over Sheol as over the rest of his creation: "Tho they (the wicked) dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them..." (Amos 9:1).<ref>{{harvnb|Bernstein|2006|p=144}}</ref>

====The inter-Testamental period====
{{See also|Intertestamental period}}
The Old Testament Sheol was  simply the home of all the dead, good and bad alike.<ref>{{harvnb|Bernstein|2006|p=139}}</ref> In the Hellenistic period the [[History of the Jews in Egypt|Greek-speaking Jews of Egypt]], perhaps under the influence of Greek thought, came to believe that the good would not die but would go directly to God, while the wicked would really die and go to the realm of [[Hades]], god of the underworld, where they would perhaps suffer torment.<ref name="Kelly2010p121-122">{{harvnb|Kelly|2010|pp=121–122}}</ref> [[1 Enoch]], dating from the period between the Old and New Testaments, separates the dead into the righteous and the wicked, and provides the former with a spring, perhaps signifying that these are the "living" (i.e. a spring) waters of life.<ref>{{harvnb|Bautch|2003|p=74}}</ref> By the time of Jesus the idea had developed that the wicked began their punishment in [[Hades]] immediately on dying, as reflected in the parable of [[Dives and Lazarus]].<ref name="Kelly2010p121-122"/>

====Satan and the end of time====
{{See also|War in Heaven}}
The [[New Testament]] [[Hades]] is a temporary holding place, to be used only until the [[end time|end of time]], when its inhabitants will be thrown into the pit of [[Gehenna]] or the [[Lake of Fire]].(Revelation 20:10-14).<ref name="Kelly2010p122">{{harvnb|Kelly|2010|p=122}}</ref> This lake is either underground, or will go underground when the "[[The New Earth|new earth]]" emerges.<ref name="Kelly2010p122"/> The [[Devil]] does not inhabit or supervise the underworld - his sphere of activity is the human world - and is only to be thrown into the fire at the end of time.<ref name="Kelly2010p122"/> He appears throughout the New Testament not as God's enemy but as his minister, "a sort of Attorney-General with investigative and disciplinary powers", as in the [[Book of Job]].<ref name="Kelly2010p122"/> It was only with the early [[Church Fathers]] that [[Satan]] was identified with the [[Serpent (Bible)|Serpent]] of the [[Garden of Eden]] and came to be seen as an active rebel against God, seeking to thwart the divine plan for mankind.<ref name="Kelly2010p122"/>

== See also ==
* [[Allegorical interpretations of Genesis]]
* [[Antediluvian]]
* [[Babylonian astronomy]]
* [[Babylonian astronomy#Cosmology|Babylonian cosmology]]
* [[Classical Planet]]
* [[Cosmogony]]
* [[Cosmological argument]]
* [[Creationist cosmologies]]
* [[Genesis creation narrative]]
* [[Hellenistic Judaism]]
* [[History of astronomy]]
* [[Jewish eschatology]]
* [[Religious cosmology]]
* [[Seven Heavens]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book
| last1       = Aune
| first1      = David E.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Westminster Dictionary of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature
| chapter     = Cosmology
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 2003
| publisher  = Westminster John Knox Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=nhhdJ-fkywYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Dictionary+New+Testament&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3Mn2TpmZBtKbiQeE4I2jAQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=cosmology&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Bautch
| first      = Kelley Coblentz
| authorlink =
| title      = A Study of the Geography of 1 Enoch 17-19
| year       = 2001
| publisher  =
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=3FPNFEtWNrQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+Study+of+the+Geography+of+1+Enoch+17-19&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jF_tTvCTFOmyiQeMtqW-Bw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=A%20Study%20of%20the%20Geography%20of%201%20Enoch%2017-19&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Beale
| first      = G.K.
| authorlink =
| title      = The Temple and the Church's mission
| year       = 2004
| publisher  = InterVarsity Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=28qJM1Qt4fsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=beale+temple+church%27s+mission&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n6QHT5STD6qXiQem48WcCQ&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=beale%20temple%20church%27s%20mission&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Berlin
| first1      = Adele
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion
| chapter      = Cosmology and creation
| editor1-last       = Berlin
| editor1-first      = Adele
| editor2-last       = Grossman
| editor2-first      = Maxine
| year       = 2011
| publisher  = Oxford University Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&pg=PA189&dq=Bible+Cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jvHuTu_wDcStiQeFz62dBw&ved=0CGcQ6AEwCTgo#v=onepage&q=Bible%20Cosmology&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Bernstein
| first      = Alan E.
| authorlink =
| title      = The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds
| year       = 1996
| publisher  = Cornell University Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=y8wAdna_YY0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+formation+of+Hell&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RhEET_6HH6TImQWp3th9&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20formation%20of%20Hell&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Bremmer
| first      = Alan E.
| authorlink =
| title      = Paradise interpreted: representations of biblical paradise in Judaism and Christianity
| chapter    = Paradise in the Septuagint
| editor-last  = Luttikhuizen
| editor-first = Gerard P.
| year       = 1999
| publisher  = Brill
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=y8wAdna_YY0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+formation+of+Hell&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RhEET_6HH6TImQWp3th9&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20formation%20of%20Hell&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Burnett
| first      = Joel S.
| authorlink =
| title      = Where is God?: divine absence in the Hebrew Bible
| year       = 2010
| publisher  = Fortress Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=BC55hdySna8C&pg=PA64&dq=Bible+Cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=X_HuTuuRE4qTiQf78_W8Bw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwADge#v=onepage&q=Bible%20Cosmology&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Collins
| first      = Adela Yarbro
| authorlink =
| title      = Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism
| year       = 2011
| publisher  = Brill
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=eZv1JZAHdg0C&pg=PA26&dq=cosmology+hebrew+bible&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bZTxTt3SFqzImAWqipWgAg&ved=0CGgQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=cosmology%20hebrew%20bible&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Deist
| first      = Ferdinand E.
| authorlink =
| title      = The material culture of the Bible: an introduction
| year       = 2000
| publisher  = Sheffield Academic Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=14uR6qqV_7cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+material+culture+of+the+Bible:+an+introduction&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cADvTsDOJM2XiAeKl43_Ag&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20material%20culture%20of%20the%20Bible%3A%20an%20introduction&f=false
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Delumeau
| first1      = Jean
| last2       = O'Connell
| first2      = Matthew
| title       = Westminster Dictionary of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature
| chapter     =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 2000
| publisher  = University of Illinois Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ubJDLvEV0vEC&pg=PA3&dq=Eden+becomes+Paradise&hl=en&sa=X&ei=458KT6yOFaH4mAWO7OSuAg&ved=0CFIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Eden%20becomes%20Paradise&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Fishbane
| first      = Michael
| authorlink =
| title      = Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking
| year      = 2003
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| isbn      = 0-19-826733-9
| url       = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=6qZg42W9EFcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Biblical+Myth+and+Rabbinic+Mythmaking&hl=en&ei=KMfRTqukH8HmmAWpkZTIDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Biblical%20Myth%20and%20Rabbinic%20Mythmaking&f=false
| ref       = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Fretheim
| first1      = Terence E.
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Westminster theological wordbook of the Bible
| chapter      = Heaven(s)
| editor1-last       = Gowan
| editor1-first      = Donald E.
| year       = 2003
| publisher  = Westminster University Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=obj6XCWIX1AC&pg=PA202&dq=Heaven+is+unreachable+by+human+beings,+through+exceptions+are+made&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JPcdT9_lDMK0iQeXncXRDQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Heaven%20is%20unreachable%20by%20human%20beings%2C%20through%20exceptions%20are%20made&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Gillingham
| first      = Susan
| authorlink =
| title      = The image, the depths, and the surface
| year      = 2002
| publisher = Continuum
| isbn      =
| url       = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=FmiKUCoUyzMC&pg=PA19&dq=garden+of+god+ancient+near+east+bible&hl=en&sa=X&ei=V9UGT_XgI6eViQeCqtWyCQ&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
| ref       = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Habel
| first1      = Norman C.
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Book of Job
|chapter      =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 1975
| publisher  = Cambridge University Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=D4I8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA137&dq=job+cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ELn2TueQMe2ViAfK_qHKAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CGQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=job%20cosmology&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Habel
| first1      = Norman C.
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Earth Story in Wisdom Traditions
|chapter      = Earth First: Inverse Cosmology in Job
| editor1-last       = Habel
| editor1-first      = Norman C.
| editor2-last       = Wurst
| editor2-first      = Shirley
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 2001
| publisher  = Sheffield Academic Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Py1ukZN_uN8C&pg=PA65&dq=job+cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ELn2TueQMe2ViAfK_qHKAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=job%20cosmology&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Hess
| first1      = Richard S.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Israelite Religions: An Archeological and Biblical Survey
|chapter      =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 2007
| publisher  = Baker Academic Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=2jNoqNRDYDUC&pg=PA161&dq=Zion+Zaphon&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0r72Tqm8DYihmQW8__WuAg&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Zion%20Zaphon&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Hiebert
| first1      = Theodore
| authorlink  =
| title       = Theological Bible Commentary
|chapter      = Genesis
| editor1-last       = O'Day
| editor1-first      = Gail R.
| editor2-last       = Petersen
| editor2-first      = David L.
| year       = 2009
| publisher  = Westminster John Knox Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=rQWknj4ORJkC&pg=PA3&dq=Genesis+Theodore+Hiebert&hl=en&sa=X&ei=e2HtTrJN5Z6IB4Cl1fEC&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Genesis%20Theodore%20Hiebert&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Hoppe
| first1      = Leslie J.
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Holy City: Jerusalem in the theology of the Old Testament
|chapter      =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 2000
| publisher  = Liturgical Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=SCxHOC8B2pYC&pg=PA25&dq=zaphon&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NVAET5jfEq_0mAXs2vWdAg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=zaphon&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last       = Horowitz
| first      = Wayne
| authorlink =
| title      = Mesopotamian cosmic geography
| year      = 1998
| publisher = Eisenbrauns
| isbn      =
| url       = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=P8fl8BXpR0MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Mesopotamian+cosmic+geography&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QFjtTuPuLaeaiAeYzaSXBw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Mesopotamian%20cosmic%20geography&f=false
| ref       = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Kaiser
| first1      = Christopher B.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Creational theology and the history of physical science
| chapter      =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 1997
| publisher  = Brill
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=BBgXuy_D8WEC&pg=PA28&dq=number+heavens+biblical+cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-Jz2TuuQEIPJmAWii-GJAg&ved=0CGkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Keel
| first1      = Othmar
| authorlink  =
| title       = The symbolism of the biblical world
| chapter      =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 1997
| publisher  = Eisenbrauns
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Fy4B1iMg33YC&pg=PA20&dq=similar&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KNv6TuQv5tCYBevYmbwK&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=similar&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Kelly
| first1      = Henry A.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Hell and Its Afterlife: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
| chapter     = Hell with Purgatory and two Limbos
| editor1-last       = Moreira
| editor1-first      = Isabel
| editor2-last       = Toscano
| editor2-first      = Margaret
| year       = 2010
| publisher  = Ashgate Publishing
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=H04CJvW58agC&pg=PA121&dq=Hell+with+Purgatory+and+two+Limbos&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1hIET7mbIK-HmQWVm4CzAg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Hell%20with%20Purgatory%20and%20two%20Limbos&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       =
| first1      =
| authorlink  =
| title       = Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
| chapter     = Kosmos
| editor1-last       = Kittel
| editor1-first      = Gerhard
| editor2-last       = Friedrich
| editor2-first      = Gerhard
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 1985
| publisher  = Eerdmans
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ltZBUW_F9ogC&pg=PA463&dq=kosmos+in+the+NT&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h8z2Tub5Hc-RiQfurYDEAQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=kosmos%20in%20the%20NT&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
|last       = Knight
|first      = Douglas A.
|editor     = Watson E. Mills (General Editor)
|title      = Mercer Dictionary of the Bible
|publisher  = Mercer University Press
|chapter    = Cosmology
|year       = 1990
|url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&pg=PA176&dq=Mercer+Dictionary+of+the+Bible+Cosmology&hl=en&ei=yDvUTrjHOcW8iAedsumbDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
|ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
|last1      = Knight
|first1     = Douglas A.
|last2      = Levine
|first2     = Amy-Jill
|editor     =
|title      = The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us
|publisher  = HarperCollins
|chapter    =
|year       = 2011
|url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ox31oGXZzZQC&pg=PT64&dq=meaning+bene+elohim&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JesLT9e3MeiNmQW5l6SVBg&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=meaning%20bene%20elohim&f=false
|ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Lee
| first1      = Sang Meyng
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Cosmic Drama of Salvation
|chapter      =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 2010
| publisher  = Mohr Siebeck
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=64p8Dmw8f-cC&pg=PA65&dq=New+Testament+cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ycL2TsG_PPHAmQXPjamtAg&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=New%20Testament%20cosmology&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
|last        = Lucas
|first       = E.L.
|editor1-last      =  Alexander
|editor1-first     = T. Desmond
|editor2-last      = Baker
|editor2-first     = David W.
|title      = Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch
|publisher  = InterVarsity Press
|location   =
|page       =
|isbn       =
|chapter    = Cosmology
|year       = 2003
|url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Ao5ecZ0ZsG8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Dictionary+of+the+Old+Testament:+Pentateuch+Alexander&hl=en&ei=YgfYTpGfB4bymAWw1dT5Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
|ref       =harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Mabie
| first1      = F.J
| authorlink  =
| title       = Dictionary of the Old Testament
| chapter     = Chaos and Death
| editor1-last       = Longman
| editor1-first      = Tremper
| editor2-last       = Enns
| editor2-first      = Peter
| year       = 2008
| publisher  = InterVarsity Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=kE2k36XAkv4C&pg=PA48&dq=chaos&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yhL9TsWmGOyXiAfmqIDIAQ&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=chaos%2C%20society%20and%20kingship%20the%20motif&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Mills
| first1      = Watson E.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Mercer Commentary on the Bible: Pentateuch/Torah
| chapter     = Introduction
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 1998
| publisher  = Mercer University Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ym5rt115YtwC&pg=PR11&dq=Hebrew+bible+mountain+center+of+earth&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QFQET_OME42XmQWeiNygAg&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Hebrew%20bible%20mountain%20center%20of%20earth&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Noort
| first1      = Ed
| authorlink  =
| title       = Paradise interpreted: representations of biblical paradise in Judaism and Christianity
| chapter     = Gan-Eden in the context of the mythology of the Hebrew bible
| editor1-last       = Luttikhuizen
| editor1-first      = Gerard P.
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 1999
| publisher  = Brill
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=b74e-uMd2JAC&pg=PA21&dq=Gan-Eden+in+the+context+of+the+mythology+of+the+Hebrew+bible&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vk0GT-m6NM-ZiQfnzqy_Aw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Gan-Eden%20in%20the%20context%20of%20the%20mythology%20of%20the%20Hebrew%20bible&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = O'Dowd
| first1      = R.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Dictionary of the Old Testament
| chapter     = Creation imagery
| editor1-last       = Longman
| editor1-first      = Tremper
| editor2-last       = Enns
| editor2-first      = Peter
| year       = 2008
| publisher  = InterVarsity Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=kE2k36XAkv4C&pg=PA48&dq=chaos&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yhL9TsWmGOyXiAfmqIDIAQ&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=chaos%2C%20society%20and%20kingship%20the%20motif&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Olson
| first1      = Daniel C.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Eerdmans commentary on the Bible
| chapter     = 1 Enoch
| editor1-last       = Dunn
| editor1-first      = James
| editor2-last       = Rogerson
| editor2-first      = John William
| year       = 2003
| publisher  = Eerdmans
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&pg=PA904&dq=1+Enoch+Daniel+C+Olson&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8_8UT7SLGIXNmAXRn4z8Aw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=1%20Enoch%20Daniel%20C%20Olson&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
|last       = Parrish
|first      = V. Steven
|editor     = Watson E. Mills (General Editor)
|title      = Mercer Dictionary of the Bible
|publisher  = Mercer University Press
|chapter    = Creation
|year       = 1990
|url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&pg=PA183&dq=Creation,+Wisdom+and+the+Torah&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NPoIT4rWIeXAmQWF4OG8Ag&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Creation%2C%20Wisdom%20and%20the%20Torah&f=false
|ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
|last     = Pennington
|first    = Jonathan T.
|editor1-last       =
|editor1-first      =
|editor2-last       =
|editor2-first      =
|title    = Heaven and earth in the Gospel of Matthew
|publisher= Brill
|location=
|page    =
|isbn    =
|chapter =
|year    = 2007
|url     = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=EGTaBJDQoD0C&pg=PA42&dq=ancient+Israelite+ideas+about+the+heavenly+realms&hl=en&sa=X&ei=A9X7Tu-gI5DomAXe7oWaAg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
|ref    =harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Perdue
| first1      = Leo G.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Wisdom in Revolt: Metaphorical Theology in the Book of Job
|chapter      =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 1991
| publisher  = Sheffield Academic Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=d_KDSNlwvRYC&pg=PA74&dq=job+cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ELn2TueQMe2ViAfK_qHKAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CFIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=job%20cosmology&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Reike
| first1      = Bo
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Oxford guide to ideas & issues of the Bible
| chapter     = Hell
| editor1-last       = Metzger
| editor1-first      = Bruce Manning
| editor2-last       = Coogan
| editor2-first      = Michael David
| year       = 2001
| publisher  = Oxford University Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=aml3tEWoOVEC&pg=PA197&dq=cosmology+sheol+hades&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UxT9To7lJaTSmAWqp9yfAg&ved=0CFgQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=cosmology%20sheol%20hades&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Ringgren
| first1      = Helmer
| authorlink  =
| title       = Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament
| chapter     = Yam
| editor1-last       = Botterweck
| editor1-first      = G. Johannes
| editor2-last       = Ringgren
| editor2-first      = Helmer
| year       = 1990
| publisher  = Eerdmans
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=MCOd-uAEQy0C&pg=PA92&dq=cosmic+ocean&hl=en&sa=X&ei=x2_5Tq-BN6SImQX-kuTOBQ&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=cosmic%20ocean&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Rochberg
| first1      = Francesca
| authorlink  =
| title       = In the Path of the Moon: Babylonian Celestial Divination and Its Legacy
|chapter      =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 2010
| publisher  = Brill
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vYluiWFPsjMC&pg=PA339&dq=waters&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3mj5Tqv7MfGMmQXfh5C3Ag&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=short%20history%20of%20the%20waters%20above%20the%20firmament&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       =
| first1      =
| authorlink  =
| title       = Dictionary of biblical imagery
|chapter      = Cosmology
| editor1-last       = Ryken
| editor1-first      = Leland
| editor2-last       = Wilhoit
| editor2-first      = Jim
| editor3-last       = Longman
| editor3-first      = Tremper
| year       = 1998
| publisher  = InterVarsity Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=qjEYEjVVEosC&pg=PA172&dq=biblical+firmament&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9g0FT9SYIKaNmQXB2_mQAg&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=biblical%20firmament&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Sarna
| first = Nahum M.
| authorlink   = Nahum Sarna
| editor-last  = Feyerick
| editor-first = Ada
| title     = Genesis: World of Myths and Patriarchs
| year      = 1997
| publisher = NYU Press
| location  = New York
| language  =
| isbn      = 0-8147-2668-2
| page     = 560
| chapter   = The Mists of Time: Genesis I-II
| url       = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=c7BSe16MeRsC&pg=PA49&dq=Sarna&hl=en&ei=G9PATq34C4aGmQWcvcG3BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Mists%20of%20Time%3A%20Genesis%20I-II%20Nahum%20Sarna&f=false
| ref       = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Seybold
| first1      = Klaus
| authorlink  =
| title       = Introducing the Psalms
| chapter     =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| editor3-last       =
| editor3-first      =
| year       = 1990
| publisher  = T&T Clarke
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=SGrWvONYwCsC&pg=PA177&dq=psalms+cosmology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8Lj2Ts-BH6b_mAW7k6S4Ag&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=psalms%20cosmology&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
|authorlink  = Mark S. Smith
|last        = Smith
|first       = Mark S.
|title       = The Origins of Biblical Monotheism
|publisher   = Oxford University Press
|year        = 2003
|url         = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=qKBlFnQj4AEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Origins+of+Biblical+Monotheism&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Jf0HT8GlK6nDmQWniJyyAg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Origins%20of%20Biblical%20Monotheism&f=false
|ref         =harv}}
* {{cite book
|last        = Stordalen
|first       = Terje
|title       = Echoes of Eden
|publisher   = Peeters
|year        = 2000
|isbn=
|url         = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=UIXwojA2_nYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Echoes+of+Eden&hl=en&ei=SHvgTv63IIqWiQeM0vm5BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Echoes%20of%20Eden%3A%20Genesis%202-3%20and%20symbolism%20of%20the%20Eden%20garden%20in%20Biblical&f=false
|ref         = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Tigghelaar
| first1      = Eibert J.C.
| authorlink  =
| title       = Paradise interpreted: representations of biblical paradise in Judaism and Christianity
| chapter     = Eden and Paradise
| editor1-last       = Luttikhuizen
| editor1-first      = Gerard P.
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 1999
| publisher  = Brill
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=b74e-uMd2JAC&pg=PA37&dq=Eden+and+Paradise:+the+garden+motif+in+some+early+Jewish+texts&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KFoGT4PGCoipiAec3ujSBA&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Eden%20and%20Paradise%3A%20the%20garden%20motif%20in%20some%20early%20Jewish%20texts&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       =
| first1      =
| authorlink  =
| title       = The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament
| chapter     =
| editor1-last       = Walton
| editor1-first      = John H.
| editor2-last       = Matthews
| editor2-first      = Victor H.
| editor3-last       = Chavalas
| editor3-first      = Mark W.
| year       = 2000
| publisher  = InterVarsity Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=wIA3tH9HqY4C&pg=PA505&dq=cosmology+hebrew+bible&hl=en&sa=X&ei=opTxTtTXBavImQXiv7SCAg&ved=0CG0Q6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=cosmology%20hebrew%20bible&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
|authorlink=John H. Walton (theologian)
|last=Walton
|first=John H.
|title=Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible
|publisher=Baker Academic
|year=2006
|url=http://books.google.com.au/books?id=rhb20fH7cZYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Ancient+Near+Eastern+Thought+and+the+Old+Testament:+Introducing+the+Conceptual+World+of+the+Hebrew+Bible&hl=en&ei=DSHDTu6CE-b3mAW-qcWVCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
|isbn=0-8010-2750-0
|ref=harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Welch
| first1      = John Woodland
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Sermon on the Mount in the light of the Temple
| chapter     =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 2009
| publisher  = Ashgate
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ZE78M9xeVdIC&pg=PA27&dq=biblical+cosmic+mountain&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nNP6Tr_BK46OmQWF-OiDCA&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=biblical%20cosmic%20mountain&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Wright
| first1      = J. Edward
| authorlink  =
| title       = The Early History of Heaven
| chapter     =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 2002
| publisher  = Oxford University Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=lKvMeMorNBEC&pg=PA42&dq=Mesopotamian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-Af5TqCHKYy5iAep55W2AQ&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Wright
| first1      = J. Edward
| authorlink  =
| title       = Things revealed: studies in early Jewish and Christian literature in honor of Michael E. Stone
| chapter     = Whither Elijah?
| editor1-last       = Chazon
| editor1-first      = Esther G.
| editor2-last       = Satran
| editor2-first      = David
| editor2-last       = Clements
| editor2-first      = Ruth
| year       = 2004
| publisher  = Brill
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=YiK40p-PW7MC&pg=PA137&dq=Whither+Elijah?&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_Bj9TtXgDKPGmAXgk72EAg&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Whither%20Elijah%3F&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1       = Wyatt
| first1      = Nick
| authorlink  =
| title       = Space and Time in the Religious Life of the Near East
| chapter     =
| editor1-last       =
| editor1-first      =
| editor2-last       =
| editor2-first      =
| year       = 2001
| publisher  = Sheffield University Press
| isbn       =
| url        = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=0-46Tys4wCUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Space+and+Time+in+the+religious+life+of+the+near+east&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rIcLT5HlB6ihiAfS3e2KBg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Space%20and%20Time%20in%20the%20religious%20life%20of%20the%20near%20east&f=false
| ref        = harv
}}

{{Christian theology|state=uncollapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biblical Cosmology}}
[[Category:Bible|Cosmology]]
[[Category:Religious cosmologies]]
[[Category:Mythological cosmologies]]
[[Category:Oral Torah]]

{{Link FA|ru}}
[[ca:Cosmologia bíblica]]
[[ja:聖書の宇宙論]]
[[pt:Cosmologia bíblica]]
[[ru:Космология в иудаизме]]