⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?^(A)
    Tell me, if you understand.^(B)

⁵ This is what God the Lord says—
the Creator of the heavens,^(A) who stretches them out,
    who spreads out the earth^(B) with all that springs from it,^(C)
    who gives breath^(D) to its people,
    and life to those who walk on it:

I am the Lord,
    the Maker of all things,
    who stretches out the heavens,^(D)
    who spreads out the earth^(E) by myself,

¹² It is I who made the earth^(A)
    and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;^(B)
    I marshaled their starry hosts.^(C)

¹⁸ For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
    he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,^(A)
    he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,^(B)
    but formed it to be inhabited^(C)—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
    and there is no other.^(D)