Heaven is where God is, and the Bible ends with God coming to live with his people: “the dwelling place of God is with man”. In Psalm 19:1, the Hebrew word is shamayim (H8064): the sky and everything above it, and also heaven, where God is. In Hebrew it is always plural in form, ‘heavens’: the Bible has no singular...
Get DeepWordWhat the original says
Behind “The heavens” in this verse is the Hebrew word shamayim (said shah-MAH-yeem).
It means the sky and everything above it, and also heaven, where God is. In Hebrew it is always plural in form, ‘heavens’: the Bible has no singular of this word.
This form, hashamayim, is ‘the’ joined to the plural: ‘the heavens’. It is the first word of the verse in Hebrew, and the word after it means ‘recounting’, telling a story over and over.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘heaven’ or ‘heavens’ 320 times, ‘air’ 43 times, as in “the birds of the air” (Genesis 1:26), and ‘sky’ 31 times:
Word by word
| הַשָּׁמַיִם | מְסַפְּרִים | כְּבוֹד | אֵל | וּמַעֲשֵׂה | יָדָיו | מַגִּיד |
| the · heavens | recounting | glory of | God | and · work of | hands · his | telling |
Original form
What this tells us
David begins this psalm outdoors, looking up: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Then he says the message never stops: “Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge” (Psalm 19:2). The word for “heavens” is shamayim, the sky above and the place of God, both in one word. In Hebrew it is always plural, as if there were always more of it than one look could take in. The sky you can see is already speaking about the God you cannot see. The psalm adds that the sky speaks “Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard” (Psalm 19:3), and yet “their voice has gone out into all the earth” (Psalm 19:4). Paul later borrows that line for the good news going out to the world (Romans 10:18). Think of standing under a clear night sky far from city lights: no one has to tell you that it is big. In the Bible, talk of heaven begins with something you can see tonight. When did the sky last tell you something about God?
What the original says
Behind “heaven” in this verse is shamayim again (said shah-MAH-yeem).
It is the same word: the sky, the heavens, and heaven as God’s home. Here it is doubled, ‘the heavens of the heavens’.
This form, hashamayim, is ‘the heavens’, and then the word comes twice more: ‘and the heavens of the heavens’. Hebrew can say ‘the highest’ this way, by repeating a word, as in ‘holy of holies’.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘heaven’ or ‘heavens’ 320 times. Moses uses the same doubled phrase: “to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens” (Deuteronomy 10:14):
Word by word
| עַל | הָאָרֶץ | הִנֵּה | הַשָּׁמַיִם | וּשְׁמֵי | הַשָּׁמַיִם | לֹא |
| on | the · earth | here | the · heavens | and · heavens of | the · heavens | not |
Original form
What this tells us
Solomon has finished building the temple in Jerusalem. He stands before the whole assembly, “spread out his hands toward heaven” (1 Kings 8:22), and prays. In the middle of the celebration he asks a startling question: “But will God indeed dwell upon the earth?” The word for heaven is shamayim, and Solomon piles it up: “Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.” The God who is in heaven is bigger than heaven. Heaven is where God is, but it is not a box that holds him. So Solomon asks God to listen from there: “May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive” (1 Kings 8:30). Centuries later Isaiah hears the LORD say, “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). And John’s Gospel says that the God no building could hold came close anyway: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14). If even the highest heaven cannot contain God, he is never too far away to hear you. Solomon’s prayer is still a good one: hear from heaven, and forgive.
What the original says
Behind the word “heavens” in this verse is the Hebrew word shamayim (said shah-MAH-yeem).
It is the same word again, here paired with ‘earth’: the whole creation, made new.
This form, shamayim, has no ‘the’ here: word for word, ‘heavens new and an earth new’. The word before it, bore’, is the verb for creating used in Genesis 1:1, a verb the Old Testament uses only with God as the one who creates.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘heaven’ or ‘heavens’ 320 times. Peter takes up Isaiah’s promise: “we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13):
Word by word
| כִּי | הִנְנִי | בוֹרֵא | שָׁמַיִם | חֲדָשִׁים | וָאָרֶץ | חֲדָשָׁה |
| for | here · I | about to create | heavens | new | and · an earth | new |
Original form
What this tells us
The last chapters of Isaiah look past the ruins of Jerusalem to what God will do. Here the LORD says, “For behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.” Then he describes it: “I will rejoice in Jerusalem and take delight in My people. The sounds of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her” (Isaiah 65:19). The word for “heavens” is shamayim, and paired with earth it means everything there is. Isaiah does not picture people leaving the world for somewhere else. He pictures God making the whole of it new: “The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” Isaiah’s new creation is solid and ordinary: “They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit” (Isaiah 65:21). The Bible’s last book sees the same: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). Christians picture this renewal in different ways, some as this world healed and others as a creation more fully remade, but the promise in both is a world without weeping. Heaven, in this verse, is not an escape from everything good about the world. It is the world as God meant it, with the tears gone. What would you most like to see made new?
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Behind the word “heaven” in this verse is the Greek word ouranos (said oo-rah-NOS).
It means the sky, and heaven, where God is. It is the New Testament’s word for both, as shamayim is in Hebrew.
This form, ouranō, is the ‘in’ form: ‘in heaven’. The prayer sets heaven and earth side by side: word for word, ‘as in heaven, also upon earth’.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘heaven’ 245 times and ‘sky’ 15 times. Jesus uses it for where treasure lasts: “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20):
Word by word
| σου | ὡς | ἐν | οὐρανῷ | καὶ | ἐπὶ | τῆς |
| of You | as | in | heaven | also | upon | the |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray, and he begins with heaven: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9). The next line asks for heaven’s ways on earth: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The word for heaven is ouranos, the sky and the place where God reigns. In heaven God’s will is already done, fully and gladly. Jesus teaches his friends to ask for that same thing here, in kitchens and offices and hospital rooms. This prayer looks ahead to what John saw at the end of the Bible: “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:2). Heaven, in the Lord’s Prayer, is not only somewhere to go but something that comes. Think of a family getting a home ready before a long-awaited child arrives: the future is already shaping today. Every time you pray these words, you are asking for a little of heaven to happen where you are. Where would you most like to see God’s will done on earth this week?
What the original says
Behind “heaven” in this verse is ouranos again (said oo-rah-NOS).
It is the same word as in Matthew 6:10: heaven, where God is, and where Christ is now.
This form, ouranois, is plural: word for word ‘in the heavens’, which the Berean puts as ‘in heaven’. The word before it, politeuma, means citizenship, the city you belong to.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘heaven’ 245 times. At the ascension the angels say, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11):
Word by word
| τὸ | πολίτευμα | ἐν | οὐρανοῖς | ὑπάρχει | ἐξ | οὗ |
| the | citizenship | in | heavens | exists | from | whence |
Original form
What this tells us
Paul writes to the church in Philippi, which Luke calls “the Roman colony of Philippi” (Acts 16:12), a city proud of its link to Rome. Just before this verse Paul warns about people whose “minds are set on earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). Then: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word for heaven is ouranos. Paul’s readers knew what belonging to a faraway city meant: rights, loyalty, a home that still claimed them. He tells them their true city is heaven, and its King is coming from there. He adds what Christ will do when he comes: he “will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Heaven here is not only where souls go but the source of a future for whole people, bodies included. Think of someone living abroad who keeps their passport close: they live fully where they are, and they know where home is. Knowing where you belong can change how you live where you are. What would it look like this week to live as a citizen of heaven in your own town?
What the original says
Behind “a new heaven” in this verse is ouranos (said oo-rah-NOS).
It is the same word: heaven and sky. Here, with ‘earth’, it means the whole creation.
This form, ouranon, is the form for what is seen: word for word, ‘I saw a heaven new’. A few words later it comes again, ouranos, for the first heaven that ‘had passed away’.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘heaven’ 245 times and ‘sky’ 15 times. John uses it again in the next verse: the holy city is “coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:2):
Word by word
| Καὶ | εἶδον | οὐρανὸν | καινὸν | καὶ | γῆν | καινήν |
| and | I saw | a heaven | new | and | an earth | new |
Original form
What this tells us
John is on the island of Patmos “because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus” (Revelation 1:9), and the book he writes is full of conflict between good and evil. Near the end the battles stop, and he sees something new: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” The word for heaven is ouranos, and with earth it means everything there is. John’s words echo Isaiah’s promise, “I will create new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17). The Bible began with God creating the heavens and the earth; it ends with God making them new. Even the sea is gone. For ancient readers the sea often stood for chaos and danger, and in this book a beast comes “rising out of the sea” (Revelation 13:1). Christians read the details of this vision in different ways, as picture language or as more literal description, but its promise is clear in the verses that follow: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4). Whatever you fear about the future, the Bible’s last picture is not destruction but renewal. What in your life feels like that restless sea?
What the original says
Behind “dwelling place” in this verse is the Greek word skēnē (said skay-NAY).
It means a tent, a dwelling: the word for the tabernacle, the tent where God lived among Israel in the desert.
This form, skēnē, is the subject of the sentence: ‘the dwelling place of God is with man’. The next verb, skēnōsei, comes from the same family: ‘He will dwell’, or word for word, ‘He will pitch his tent’.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘tabernacle’ 11 times, as in “the sanctuary and true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man” (Hebrews 8:2):
Word by word
| λεγούσης | ἰδοὺ | ἡ | σκηνὴ | τοῦ | θεοῦ | μετὰ |
| saying | behold | the | tabernacle | the | of God | with |
Original form
What this tells us
John has just seen the holy city “coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:2). Then he hears “a loud voice from the throne” saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them.” The word for “dwelling place” is skēnē, a tent, the word for the tabernacle where God lived among Israel in the desert. The story that began with God telling Moses, “they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8), ends with God living with his people for good: “They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.” John’s Gospel uses a verb from the same family for Jesus: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Heaven, in the Bible’s last chapters, is not mainly a place far away but God close at hand: “They will see His face” (Revelation 22:4). Think of the difference between a letter from someone you love and that person arriving at your door. The deepest answer to ‘What is heaven like?’ in this verse is a person: God with his people, face to face. Everything else John describes flows from that.
Behind "heaven" are 9 different words
Your English Bible says "heaven" 623 times. Behind it stand several Hebrew and Greek words:
Reflect
Read it as yours
This is the Bible’s last picture of God and his people. Read it slowly:
Name it
What do you most look forward to, or most wonder about, when you think of heaven? Write it down, and read Revelation 21:4 beside it.
Carry with you
If heaven is, above all, God living with his people, where could you make room for him in your life this week?