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31 July 2022 Navigate 'up' to the Genesis index: index-genesis.
And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. -- Revised Version
"Sky and land" is better than "heaven and earth" here. But the really interesting thing is all the host of them, or, literally, all their army.
The use is metaphorical, and although I think this particular instance is unusual in referring to the army of heaven and earth, the idea of an "army of heaven" is not unknown. In 2 Kings 6, a literal invisible "army of heaven," which chariots of fire, helps Israel against its enemies. More broadly, idolatrous worship of the "army of heaven" is condemned in the Hebrew Bible, and in Deuteronomy this idolatrous worship is equated with the worship of the sun, moon, and stars (4:19).
More instances of the phrase can be found here.
If the army of heaven can refer metaphorically to the heavenly bodies, perhaps the animals and such would be the "army of earth," so to speak.
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