Who laid... — Better, He fixed the earth on its foundations. (Comp. Job 38:4-6; Proverbs 8:29.)
The inconsistency of this with Job 26:7, “He laid the earth upon nothing,” need not cause difficulty. Both treatments are poetical, not scientific. The word foundations implies stability and endurance (comp. Psalms 82:5), as in Shakespeare’s
“The frame and huge foundation of the earth.”
The verse has a historical interest from having supplied the Inquisition with an argument against Galileo.