To him that stretcheth out the earth above the waters,.... Or, "besides the waters" t, close by them, and yet secures the earth from being covered with them; see Psalms 24:2;
for his mercy [endureth] for ever; it was in mercy he caused the waters to go off the earth which first covered it; that trees, plants, and herbs, might spring up out of it, and that it might be a fit habitation for man; and though for the sins of the old world these waters were let in upon it, which drowned it, and destroyed man and beast upon it, except a few that were in mercy preserved; yet the Lord has promised and swore to it, that these waters shall no more go over the earth to destroy it; he has set a bound for the sea that it cannot pass, by a decree of his; even the sand on the shore, which, as weak as it may seem to be, is a bound unpassable; though they may toss and rage and roar, they shall not prevail, nor pass over it, which is a perpetual miracle of mercy, Jeremiah 5:22.
t על המים "juxta aquas", Tirinus, Gejerus, Michaelis.