22 “The Lord possessed me aat the beginning of His way,

Before His works 1of old.

23 “From everlasting I was 1aestablished,

From the beginning, bfrom the earliest times of the earth.

24 “When there were no adepths I was 1brought forth,

When there were no springs abounding with water.

25 “aBefore the mountains were settled,

Before the hills I was 1brought forth;

26 While He had not yet made the earth and the 1fields,

Nor the first dust of the world.

27 “When He aestablished the heavens, I was there,

When bHe inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

28 When He made firm the skies above,

When the springs of the deep became 1fixed,

29 When aHe set for the sea its boundary

So that the water would not transgress His 1command,

When He marked out bthe foundations of the earth;

30 Then aI was beside Him, as a master workman;

And I was daily His delight,

1Rejoicing always before Him,