Ouranos is the Greek word for heaven or sky, used 278 times in the New Testament according to Strong’s. Ouranos in Latin is Uranus. Our seventh planet from the sun, Uranus was named after the Greek God of the sky or heaven, Ouranus. Zeus was the grandson of Uranus.
This ouranos heaven is three different places. The first is the sky, as in our atmosphere. The birds fly in it. The second is outer space, where the stars and planets are. And the third meaning is the heaven beyond these two, where God is, a place that we cannot get to of our own human volition.
Apparently in classical Greek, ouranos was never used in the plural. It wasn’t until the Greek translation of the Old Testament that the term heavens in Greek was used. ( www.wenstrom.org)
I’ve read that in Jewish tradition, there are three heavens. And there is one verse in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 12:2, which states, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know–God knows.” I don’t recall anyone ever discussing this third heaven, so this concept of three distinct heavens is a new one for me. I always just thought of heaven as being vaguely being out there somewhere.
Verses:
Matthew 5:10 NASB Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 6:20 NIV But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 8:20 ESV And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. (There are a few translations that use heaven, but most translate ouranos here as air.)
Matthew 19:23 NASB And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Mark 14:62 KJV And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Luke 4:25 ESV But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land. (The NIV, NASB, and some other use sky here instead of heavens.)
Luke 9:54 NIV When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”
Luke 17:24 NASB For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. (The KJV uses heaven.)
John 17:1 KJV These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify:
Acts 1:10-11 ESV And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Some versions use sky for the first two heavens.)
Acts 4:24 NIV When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”
Acts 7:49 KJV Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Acts 7:56 NASB And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Philippians 3:20 ESV But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 NASB For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Hebrews 12:25-26 NIV See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
James 5:12 KJV But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
2 Peter 3:5-7 NIV But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
2 Peter 3:10 ESV But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Revelation 5:3 NASB And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.
Revelation 8:1 NIV When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Revelation 12:10 KJV And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Revelation 21:1-2 ESV Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
The G/K number for ouranos is 4041.
The Strong’s number for ouranos is 3772.
