8:27 compass. “Compass” (Hebrew khug) is the same word as “circle” in Isaiah 40:22, as well as “compassed” in Job 26:10. All three clearly refer to the roundness of the earth, especially to the spherical nature of sea level, defining, as it were, the global shape of the earth. The Bible never teaches a flat earth, though the charge is frequently made.

8:27 depth. “Depth” is the same word as “deep.”

8:28 the clouds. The word for “clouds” is also the word for “sky,” and means “thin vapor.” This seems to be a reference to the “waters above the firmament” in the original creation (Genesis 1:7), most likely an extensive canopy of water vapor.

8:28 fountains of the deep. A reference to the “fountains of the deep,” originally “strengthened” to provide firm conduits from the sub-terrestrial “deep” which provided water for the lands in the primeval hydrologic cycle.