When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

When he gave to the sea its bound, That the waters should not transgress his commandment, When he marked out the foundations of the earth;

When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when be balanced the foundations of the earth;

when he imposed on the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

In His setting for the sea its limit, And the waters transgress not His command, In His decreeing the foundations of earth,

When he put a limit to the sea, so that the waters might not go against his word: when he put in position the bases of the earth:

When He gave to the sea His decree, That the waters should not transgress His commandment, When He appointed the foundations of the earth;

when he encompassed the sea within its limits, and laid down a law for the waters, lest they transgress their limits; when he weighed the foundations of the earth.

When he gave to the sea his decree - When he assigned its limits, adjusted its saltness, and proportioned the extent of the surface to the quantity of vapors to be raised from it, for the irrigation of the terrene surface.
The foundations of the earth - Those irreversible laws by which all its motions are governed; its annual and diurnal rotation, and particularly its centrifugal and centripetal forces; by the former of which it has its annual motion round the sun like all other planets; and by the latter all its particles are prevented from flying off, notwithstanding the great velocity of its motion round its own axis, which causes one thousand and forty-two miles of its equator to pass under any given point in the heavens in the course of a single hour! These are, properly speaking, the foundations of the earth; the principles on which it is constructed, and the laws by which it is governed.

When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment,.... A perpetual decree, which never has been altered nor never will: he has placed the sand for the bounds of the sea everywhere, which it cannot pass, though its waves toss, foam, and roar; this is his decreed place, with which he has shut it up, as with doors, bars, and bolts; so that those proud waves may come hitherto and no further, Jeremiah 5:22;
when he appointed the foundations of the earth; which are laid on the seas and floods; nay, the earth is hung like a ball in the air upon nothing; and yet its foundations are such as that it shall not be removed; being the purpose and decree, the power and might, of the Lord himself, Job 26:7. Now Christ was present when those were laid, for he was concerned in the laying of them himself, Hebrews 1:10. The Lord asks Job where he was then, Job 38:4; he was not theft in being, but Christ was.

commandment--better, the shore, that is, of the sea.
foundations--figuratively denotes the solid structure (Job 38:4; Psalm 24:2).