King of the Mysteries, who wast and art,
before the elements, before the ages,
King yet eternal, comely His aspect,
King without beginning, without end.
King who created lustrous heaven,
who is not arrogant, not overweening,
and the earth, with its multitudinous delights,
strong, powerful, stable.
King who didst make the noble brightness,
and the darkness, with its gloom;
the one, the perfect day,
the other, the very perfect night.
King who fashioned the vast deeps
out of the primary stuff of the elements,
who ...
the wondrous formless mass.
King who formed out of it each element,
who confirmed them without restriction, a lovely mystery,
both tempestuous and serene,
both animate and inanimate.
King who hewed, gloriously, with energy,
out of the very shapely primal stuff,
the heavy, round earth,
with foundations, ... length and breadth.[12]
King who shaped within no narrow limits
in the circle of the firmament
the globe, fashioned
like a goodly apple, truly round.
King who formed after that with fixity
the fresh masses about the earth;
the very smooth currents above the world
of the chill watery air.
King who didst sift the cold excellent water
on the earth-mass of the noble cliffs
into rills, with the reservoirs[13] of the streams,
according to their measures, with moderation.