It was Elihu (although of course inspired by the Holy Spirit) speaking to Job, not God Himself. God started speaking one chapter later.
So you do agree that the common worldview of the Ancients (such as Job) was that the sky was a dome, a solid firmament? Then, given that point of view, doesn’t it seem more natural to interpret the word “vault” or “dome” in Genesis 1 as referring to that commonly held perspective?
It seems perfectly appropriate for God to communicate that He created everything and for what purpose He created everything, using the worldview that the people understood. Can’t the ancient cosmology be used as a vehicle to express God’s Creation story?
Given that the straightforward reading of Genesis 1 corresponds very well with ancient cosmology, why would you extract a “hazy atmosphere” out of it? If the intention was to communicate a completely different cosmology, you would at least expect it to be explicitly presented as such. On another topic you wrote the following advice:
I think that’s a good advice. So it would be good to apply it consistently. I don’t see any indications of a radically different cosmology being presented in Genesis 1.