HEAVEN, the firmament in which the sun, moon, planets and stars seem to be placed ; hence also used, generally in the plural, of the atmospheric region (0. Eng. he f en, heo f one, appearing in O.S. hevan, is seemingly unconnected with the High Ger. word appearing in Ger. Himmel, Dutch kernel: its derivation is un known; it is not connected with "to heave," i.e., "lifted up"). In the cosmogonies of ancient peoples there was a plurality of heav ens, varying from three to seven, the higher transcending the lower in glory. Heaven, in the Hebrew shamayim, the Greek ovpavos, the Latin caelum, is the abode of God, and as such in Christian eschatology is the place of the blessed in the next world (see ESCHATOLOGY and PARADISE).