22  ^s“The Lord ^tpossessed¹ me at the beginning of his work,²

the first of his acts ^uof old.

23  Ages ago I was ^vset up,

at the first, ^wbefore the beginning of the earth.

24  When there were no ^xdepths I was ^ybrought forth,

when there were no springs abounding with water.

25  Before the mountains ^zhad been shaped,

^abefore the hills, I was brought forth,

26  before he had made the earth with its fields,

or the first of the dust of the world.