When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
When he prepared the heavens, I (was) there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth.
"Prepared" or 'fitted.' This refers to the happy adaptation of the form, figure, magnitude, and motion of the heavens, to the conditions of their being, as appointed by God. "I was there," already, from everlasting, being "with God" (Proverbs 8:30; John 1:1.); and I performed in creation as His instrument (John 1:3). A compass," or rather, 'a circle.' "He set" a spherical or circular form "upon the face of the depth," or sea, as well as the earth. The spherical form of our globe is best seen at sea. It is striking how the sacred writers, while not rudely offending the conceptions of their age respecting cosmography, yet use language which harmonizes with the later discoveries of science.