¹² But the Lord made the earth by his power,
    and he preserves it by his wisdom.
With his own understanding
    he stretched out the heavens.

⁸ He alone has spread out the heavens
    and marches on the waves of the sea.

²² God sits above the circle of the earth.
    The people below seem like grasshoppers to him!
He spreads out the heavens like a curtain
    and makes his tent from them.

¹⁷ The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge!
    The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make,
for their carefully shaped works are a fraud.
    These idols have no breath or power.
¹⁸ Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies!
    On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.
¹⁹ But the God of Israel^[a] is no idol!
    He is the Creator of everything that exists,
including his people, his own special possession.
    The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name!

¹⁸ For the Lord is God,
    and he created the heavens and earth
    and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in,
    not to be a place of empty chaos.
“I am the Lord,” he says,
    “and there is no other.

¹⁹ By wisdom the Lord founded the earth;
    by understanding he created the heavens.

⁴ Praise him, skies above!
    Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
⁵ Let every created thing give praise to the Lord,
    for he issued his command, and they came into being.

⁶⁹ There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens,
    as solid and enduring as the earth.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
    Tell me, if you know so much.
⁵ Who determined its dimensions
    and stretched out the surveying line?
⁶ What supports its foundations,
    and who laid its cornerstone
⁷ as the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels^[a] shouted for joy?