This verse, like verse 30, has three lines instead of the usual two. It is another place where some translations make a new sentence and repeat the main clause from verse 27; for example, “And I was there [with him] when he. . ..”

“When he assigned to the sea its limit”: The sense of this line is “when he fixed a boundary for the ocean” or “when he told the ocean how far it could go.”

“So that the waters might not transgress his command” is literally “and the waters do not exceed his mouth.” The expression “exceed . . . mouth” is used in narrative passages such as 1 Sam 15.24, in which Saul says to Samuel, “I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord. . ..” The thought in this verse is similar to that in Job 38.8-11. The “limit” imposed upon the oceans is the place where the waves are to come on the shoreline and no farther.

We may translate the first two lines as “I was there when the Lord set a boundary for the oceans and commanded them not to overflow their shores.” In languages in which oceans are not known, it may be necessary to speak of lakes or rivers.

“When he marked out the foundations of the earth”: This line goes with verse 29 as another time clause similar to the first line of the verse. “Marked out” translates the same root as that rendered “limit” in the first line and the one rendered “drew” in verse 27. “Foundations of the earth” is a common description of the bases upon which the earth rests in such passages as Job 38.4; Psa 24.2; 82.5; and 104.5. “Foundation” refers to the lower part of a structure or building upon which the rest of the structure rests. In areas in which local buildings lack such foundations it may be necessary to say, for example, “I was there when he set the earth on its resting place.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .