²² “The Lord created me at the beginning^[a] of his work,^[b]
    the first of his acts of long ago.^(A)
23 Ages ago I was set up,
    at the first, before the beginning of the earth.^(B)
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
    when there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains had been shaped,
    before the hills, I was brought forth,^(C)
26 when he had not yet made earth and fields^[c]
    or the world’s first bits of soil.
²⁷ When he established the heavens, I was there;
    when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,^(D)
28 when he made firm the skies above,
    when he established the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when he assigned to the sea its limit,
    so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,^(E)
30     then I was beside him, like a master worker,^[d]
and I was daily his^[e] delight,
    playing before him always,^(F)

¹⁸ Moreover, they worship even the most hateful animals,
which are worse than all others when judged by their lack of intelligence,^(A)