Proverbs 8:27-29 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

When he prepared the heavens I was there Not as an idle spectator, but as a co-worker with my Father. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth Of that great abyss of water and earth, mixed together, which is called both earth, and water, and the deep, (Genesis 1:2,) when he made this lower world in the form of a globe. When he established the clouds above Hebrew, strengthened them, by his word and decree, which alone upholds the clouds in the air, which otherwise would quickly be dissolved or dispersed. When he strengthened the fountains When he shut up the several fountains in the cavities of the earth, and kept them there, as it were, by a strong hand, for the use of man and beast; of the deep Which fountains have their originals from the deep, either from the sea, or from the abyss of waters, in the bowels of the earth. When he gave to the sea his decree Its bounds or limits, namely, by those parts of the earth which border upon it; that the waters should not pass his commandment Should not overflow the earth; when he appointed Or fixed; the foundations of the earth Hung the earth, self- balanced, upon its centre, or gave the earth its firm standing upon its foundations, notwithstanding all the assaults which the waters of the sea, or those in the bowels of the earth make against it.