Creatio ex nihilo in the Rig Veda

Rig Veda 10.72 recounts the story of creation out of nothing. Below is the hymn with translation by R.T.H. Griffith (1896):

देवानां नु वयं जाना पर वोचाम विपन्यया |
उक्थेषुशस्यमानेषु यः पश्यादुत्तरे युगे ||
बरह्मणस पतिरेता सं कर्मार इवाधमत |
देवानाम्पूर्व्ये युगे.असतः सदजायत ||
देवानां युगे परथमे.असतः सदजायत |
तदाशा अन्वजायन्त तदुत्तानपदस परि ||

1. LET US with tuneful skill proclaim these generations of the Gods,
That one may see them when these hymns are chanted in a future age.
2 These Brahmaṇaspati produced with blast and smelting, like a Smith,
Existence, in an earlier age of Gods, from Non-existence sprang.
3 Existence, in the earliest age of Gods, from Non-existence sprang.
Thereafter were the regions born. This sprang from the Productive Power.


The hymn gives an account of the creation of the devas by Brahmanaspati. It declares that existence sprang out of non-existence (asataha sadjaayat). 

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad reflects on this theme by declaring all creation as born from the Supreme Self. 

But, it's worth comparing this account with the song in Job 38:

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone
while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels shouted for joy?

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