And brake up for it my decreed [place]
Or, as Mr. Broughton translates it, "and brake the earth for it by my decree": made a vast chasm in the earth to hold the waters of the sea, which was provided as a sort of cradle to put this swaddled infant in; God cleaved the earth, raised the hills and sank the valleys, which became as channels to convey the waters that ran off the earth to their appointed place, which beautifully expressed in ( Psalms 104:7 Psalms 104:8 ) ; and refers there, as here, to the work of creation on the second day, ( Genesis 1:9 Genesis 1:10 ) F8;
and set bars and doors;
to keep it in its decreed appointed place, that the waters might not go over the earth; these are the shores, as the Targum, the cliffs and rocks upon them, the boundaries of the sea; to which may be added, and what is amazing, the sand upon the seashore is such a boundary to it that it cannot pass, ( Jeremiah 5:22 ) ; but these would be insufficient was it not for the power and will of God, next expressed.