righteousness of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty will stand as a monument, being remembered to Jehovah’s vindication forever.—Ps. 83:18; Isa. 66:22-24.

GOD’S HEART

God reveals that he has affections and emotions, the Bible describing him as having a “heart.” He is grieved by man’s sinfulness; at the time of the Flood “he felt hurt at his heart,” regretting that men had rejected his righteous rule, making it necessary for God to turn from being their benefactor to become their destroyer. (Gen. 6:6) By contrast, God’s heart ‘rejoices’ when his servant is faithful. (Prov. 27:11) Jehovah will carry out “the ideas of his heart.” (Jer. 30:24) Such a thing as the cruel offering up of humans as burnt sacrifices, practiced by some of the deviating Israelites, never had come up into his heart, showing him to be no God of eternal torment.—Jer. 7:31; 19:5.

CENTER OF A THING

The heart being a central organ of the body, the term “heart” is applied to the center or depth of something, such as the “heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40) and the “heart of the sea.”—Ex. 15:8; Jonah 2:3.

PROPHETIC

The symbolic use of “heart” figures in a prophetic way at Daniel 7:4, where the lionlike beast representing the kingdom of Babylon was made to stand on two feet and was given “the heart of a man,” that is, it no longer possessed the courageous “heart of the lion.” (2 Sam. 17:10) It was then defeated by the symbolic “bear,” Medo-Persia.—Dan. 7:5; see BEASTS, SYMBOLIC; MIND.

HEAVEN

[Heb., sha·maʹyim; Gr., ou·ra·nosʹ].

The Hebrew sha·maʹyim (always in the plural) seems to have the basic sense of that which is “high” or “lofty.” (Ps. 103:11; Prov. 25:3; Isa. 55:9) The etymology of the Greek word is uncertain.

PHYSICAL HEAVENS

The full scope of the physical heavens is embraced by the original-language term. The context usually provides sufficient information to determine which area of the physical heavens is meant.

Heavens of earth’s atmosphere

The “heaven(s)” may apply to the full range of earth’s atmosphere in which dew and frost form (Gen. 27:28; Job 38:29), the birds fly (Deut. 4:17; Prov. 30:19; Matt. 6:26), the winds blow (Ps. 78:26), lightning flashes (Luke 17:24), and the clouds float and drop their rain, snow or hailstones. (Josh. 10:11; 1 Ki. 18:45; Isa. 55:10; Acts 14:17) The “sky” is sometimes meant, that is, the apparent or visual dome or vault arching over the earth.—Matt. 16:1-3; Acts 1:10, 11.

This atmospheric region corresponds generally to the “expanse [Heb., ra·qiʹaʽ]” formed during the second creative period, described at Genesis 1:6-8. It is evidently to this ‘heaven’ that Genesis 2:4; Exodus 20:11; 31:17 refer in speaking of the creation of “the heavens and the earth.”—See EXPANSE.

When the expanse of atmosphere was formed, earth’s surface waters were separated from other waters above the expanse. This explains the expression used with regard to the global flood of Noah’s day, that “all the springs of the vast watery deep were broken open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” (Gen. 7:11; compare Proverbs 8:27, 28.) At the Flood, the “vast watery deep” of the waters suspended above the expanse apparently descended as if by certain channels, as well as in rainfall. When this vast reservoir had emptied itself, such “flood gates of the heavens” were, in effect, “stopped up.”—Gen. 8:2.

Outer space

The physical “heavens” extend through earth’s atmosphere and beyond to the regions of outer space with their stellar bodies, “all the army of the heavens”—sun, moon, stars and constellations. (Deut. 4:19; Isa. 13:10; 1 Cor. 15:40, 41; Heb. 11:12) The first verse of the Bible describes the creation of such starry heavens prior to the development of earth for human habitation. (Gen. 1:1) These heavens show forth God’s glory, even as does the expanse of atmosphere, being the work of God’s “fingers.” (Ps. 8:3; 19:1-6) The divinely appointed “statutes of the heavens” control all such celestial bodies. Astronomers, despite their modern equipment and advanced mathematical knowledge, are still unable to comprehend these statutes fully. (Job 38:33; Jer. 33:25) Their findings, however, confirm the impossibility of man’s placing a measurement upon such heavens, or of counting the stellar bodies. (Jer. 31:37; 33:22; see STAR.) Yet they are numbered and named by God.—Ps. 147:4; Isa. 40:26.

“Midheaven” and the “extremities of the heavens”

The expression “midheaven” applies to the region within earth’s expanse of atmosphere where birds, such as the eagle, fly. (Rev. 8:13; 14:6; 19:17; Deut. 4:11 [Heb., “heart of the heavens”]) Somewhat similar is the expression “between the earth and the heavens.” (1 Chron. 21:16; 2 Sam. 18:9) The advance of Babylon’s attackers from “the extremity of the heavens” evidently means their coming to her from the distant horizon (where earth and sky appear to meet and the sun appears to rise and set). (Isa. 13:5; compare Psalm 19:4-6.) Similarly “from the four extremities of the heavens” apparently refers to four points of the compass, thus indicating a coverage of the four quarters of the earth. (Jer. 49:36; compare Daniel 8:8; 11:4; Matthew 24:31; Mark 13:27.) As the heavens surround the earth on all sides, Jehovah’s vision of everything “under the whole heavens” embraces all the globe.—Job 28:24.

The cloudy skies

Another term, the Hebrew shaʹhhaq, is also used to refer to the “skies” or their clouds. (Deut. 33:26; Prov. 3:20; Isa. 45:8) This word has the root meaning of something beaten fine or pulverized, as the “film of dust” (shaʹhhaq) at Isaiah 40:15. There is a definite appropriateness in this meaning, inasmuch as clouds form when warm air, rising from the earth, becomes cooled to what is known as the “dewpoint,” and the water vapor in it condenses into minute particles sometimes called “water dust.” (Compare Job 36:27, 28.) Adding to the appropriateness, the visual effect of the blue dome of the sky is caused by the diffusion of sun rays by gas molecules and other particles (including dust) composing the atmosphere. By God’s formation of such atmosphere, he has, in effect, ‘beaten out the skies hard like a molten mirror,’ giving a definite limit or clear demarcation to the atmospheric blue vault above man.—Job 37:18.

“Heavens of the heavens”

The expression “heavens of the heavens” is considered as referring to the highest heavens, which, since the heavens extend out from the earth in all directions, would embrace the complete extent of the physical heavens, however vast.—Deut. 10:14; Neh. 9:6.

Solomon, the constructor of the temple at Jerusalem, stated that the “heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens” cannot contain God. (1 Ki. 8:27) As the Creator of the heavens, Jehovah’s position is far above them all and “his name alone is unreachably high. His dignity is above earth and heaven.” (Ps. 148:13) Jehovah measures the physical heavens as easily as a man would measure an object by spreading his fingers so that the object lies between the tips of the thumb and little finger. (Isa. 40:12) Solomon’s statement does not mean that God has no specific place of residence. Nor does it mean that he is omnipresent in the sense of being literally everywhere and in everything. This can be seen from the fact that Solomon also spoke of Jehovah as hearing “from the heavens, your established place of dwelling,” that is, the heavens of the spirit realm.—1 Ki. 8:30, 39.

Thus, in the physical sense, the term “heavens” covers a wide range. While it may refer to the farthest reaches of universal space, it may also refer to something that is simply high or lofty to a degree beyond the ordinary. Thus, those aboard storm-tossed ships are said to “go up to the heavens, . . . down to the bottoms.” (Ps. 107:26) So, too, the builders of the Tower of Babel intended to put up a structure with its “top in the heavens,” a “skyscraper,” as it were. (Gen. 11:4; compare Jeremiah 51:53.) And the prophecy at Amos 9:2 speaks of men as ‘going up to the heavens’ in a vain effort to elude Jehovah’s judgments, evidently meaning that they would try to find escape in the high mountainous regions.

SPIRITUAL HEAVENS

The same original-language words used for the physical heavens are also applied to the spiritual heavens. As has been seen, Jehovah God does not reside in the physical heavens, being a Spirit. However, since he is the “High and Lofty One” who resides in the “height” (Isa. 57:15), the basic sense of that which is “lifted up” or “lofty” expressed in the Hebrew-language word makes it appropriate to describe God’s “lofty abode of holiness and beauty.” (Isa. 63:15; Ps. 33:13, 14; 115:3) As the Maker of the physical heavens (Gen. 14:19; Ps. 33:6), Jehovah is also their Owner. (Ps. 115:15, 16) Whatever is his pleasure to do in them, he does, including miraculous acts.—Ps. 135:6.

In many texts, therefore, the “heavens” stand for God himself and his sovereign position. His throne is in the heavens, that is, in the spirit realm over which he also rules. (Ps. 103:19-21; 2 Chron. 20:6; Matt. 23:22; Acts 7:49) From his supreme or ultimate position, Jehovah, in effect, ‘looks down’ upon the physical heavens and earth (Ps. 14:2; 102:19; 113:6), and from this lofty position also speaks, answers petitions and renders judgment. (1 Ki. 8:49; Ps. 2:4-6; 76:8; Matt. 3:17) So we read that Hezekiah and Isaiah, in the face of a grave threat, “kept praying . . . and crying to the heavens for aid.” (2 Chron. 32:20; compare 2 Chronicles 30:27.) Jesus, too, used the heavens as representing God when asking the religious leaders whether the source of John’s baptism was “from heaven or from men.” (Matt. 21:25; compare John 3:27.) The prodigal son confessed to having sinned “against heaven” as well as against his own father. (Luke 15:18, 21) The “kingdom of the heavens,” then, means not merely that it is based in and rules from the spiritual heavens, but also that it is “the kingdom of God.”—Dan. 2:44; Matt. 4:17; 21:43; 2 Tim. 4:18.

Also due to this heavenly position, both men and angels raised hands or faces toward the heavens in calling upon God to act (Ex. 9:22, 23; 10:21, 22), in swearing to an oath (Dan. 12:7), and in prayer. (1 Ki. 8:22, 23; Lam. 3:41; Matt. 14:19; John 17:1) At Deuteronomy 32:40 Jehovah speaks of himself as ‘raising his hand to heaven in an oath.’ In harmony with Hebrews 6:13, this evidently means that Jehovah swears by himself.—Compare Isaiah 45:23.

Angelic dwelling place

The spiritual heavens are also the “proper dwelling place” of God’s spirit sons. (Jude 6; Gen. 28:12, 13; Matt. 18:10; 24:36) The expression “army of the heavens,” often applied to the stellar creation, sometimes describes these angelic sons of God. (1 Ki. 22:19; compare Psalm 103:20, 21; Daniel 7:10; Luke 2:13; Revelation 19:14.) So, too, the “heavens” are personified as representing this angelic organization, the “congregation of the holy ones.”—Ps. 89:5-7; compare Luke 15:7, 10; Revelation 12:12.

REPRESENTING RULERSHIP

We have seen that the heavens can refer to Jehovah God in his sovereign position. Thus, when Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the experience the Babylonian emperor was due to have would make him “know that the heavens are ruling,” it meant the same as knowing “that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind.”—Dan. 4:25, 26.

However, aside from its reference to the Supreme Sovereign, the term “heavens” can also refer to other ruling powers that are exalted or lifted up above their subject peoples. The very dynasty of Babylonian kings that Nebuchadnezzar represented is described at Isaiah 14:12 as being starlike, a “shining one, son of the dawn.” By the conquest of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E., that Babylonian dynasty lifted its throne “above the stars of God,” these “stars” evidently referring to the Davidic line of Judean kings (even as the Heir to the Davidic throne, Christ Jesus, is called the “bright morning star” at Revelation 22:16; compare Numbers 24:17.) By its overthrow of the divinely authorized Davidic throne, the Babylonian dynasty, in effect, exalted itself heaven-high. (Isa. 14:13, 14) This lofty grandeur and far-reaching dominion were also represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream by a symbolic tree with its height ‘reaching the heavens.’—Dan. 4:20-22.

New heavens and new earth

The connection of the “heavens” with ruling power aids in understanding the meaning of the expression “new heavens and a new earth” found at Isaiah 65:17; 66:22 and quoted by the apostle Peter at 2 Peter 3:13. Observing such relationship, M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia (Vol. IV, pp. 122-127) comments: “In Isa. LXV, 17, a new heaven and a new earth signify a new government, new kingdom, new people. . . .”

Even as the “earth” can refer to a society of people (Ps. 96:1; see EARTH), so, too, “heavens” can symbolize the superior ruling power or government over such “earth.” The prophecy presenting the promise of “new heavens and a new earth,” given through Isaiah, was one dealing initially with the restoration of Israel from Babylonian exile. Upon the Israelites’ return to their homeland, they entered into a new order of things. Over them there was the governorship of Zerubbabel (a descendant of David), aided by High Priest Joshua, at the city of Jerusalem. Through these individuals, the “heavens,” or the heavenly Sovereign Jehovah God, directed and supervised the subject people. (Hag. 1:1, 14) Thereby, as verse 18 of Isaiah chapter 65 foretold, Jerusalem became “a cause for joyfulness and her people a cause for exultation.” As foretold in a similar restoration prophecy, Jehovah thereby ‘planted the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth.’—Isa. 51:11, 16.

Peter’s quotation, however, shows that a future fulfillment was to be anticipated, on the basis of God’s promise. (2 Pet. 3:13) Since God’s promise in this case relates to the second presence of Christ Jesus, as shown at verse 4, the “new heavens and a new earth” must relate to God’s Messianic kingdom and its rule over obedient subjects. By his resurrection