THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.

The King James Version translates the Hebrew idiom, etsem ha-shamayim, by "the body of heaven" (Ex 24:10). A more correct rendering is given in the Revised Version (British and American), "the very heaven," taking the word `etsem in its idiomatic use as an intensive, which is derived from its literal meaning, "bone," as "strength," "substance," and then as "self" (compare Job 21:23); the substance of the blue, unclouded sky, hence, the clear sky itself.