Text -- Proverbs 8:20-36 (NET)

8:20 I walk in the path of righteousness, in the pathway of justice, 8:21 that I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, and that I may fill their treasuries. 8:22 The Lord created me as the beginning of his works, before his deeds of long ago. 8:23 From eternity I was appointed, from the beginning, from before the world existed. 8:24 When there were no deep oceans I was born, when there were no springs overflowing with water; 8:25 before the mountains were set in place– before the hills– I was born, 8:26 before he made the earth and its fields, or the beginning of the dust of the world. 8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he marked out the horizon over the face of the deep, 8:28 when he established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep grew strong, 8:29 when he gave the sea his decree that the waters should not pass over his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 8:30 then I was beside him as a master craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, rejoicing before him at all times, 8:31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and delighting in its people. 8:32 “So now, children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. 8:33 Listen to my instruction so that you may be wise, and do not neglect it. 8:34 Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching at my doors day by day, waiting beside my doorway. 8:35 For the one who finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. 8:36 But the one who does not find me brings harm to himself; all who hate me love death.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Pro 8:21

¹ tn The infinitive construct expressing the purpose of the preceding “walk” in the way of righteousness. These verses say that wisdom is always on the way of righteousness for the purposes of bestowing the same to those who find her. If sin is involved, then wisdom has not been followed.

² tn The Piel imperfect continues the verbal idea that the infinitive began in the parallel colon even though it does not have the vav on the form.

³ tc The LXX adds at the end of this verse: “If I declare to you the things of daily occurrence, I will remember to recount the things of old.”

NET Notes: Pro 8:22

¹ tn There are two roots קָנָה (qanah) in Hebrew, one meaning “to possess,” and the other meaning “to create.” The earlier English versions did not know of the second root, but suspected in certain places that a meaning like that was necessary (e.g., Gen 4:1; 14:19; Deut 32:6). Ugaritic confirmed that it was indeed another root. The older versions have the translation “possess” because otherwise it sounds like God lacked wisdom and therefore created it at the beginning. They wanted to avoid saying that wisdom was not eternal. Arius liked the idea of Christ as the wisdom of God and so chose the translation “create.” Athanasius translated it, “constituted me as the head of creation.” The verb occurs twelve times in Proverbs with the meaning of “to acquire”; but the Greek and the Syriac versions have the meaning “create.” Although the idea is that wisdom existed before creation, the parallel ideas in these verses (“appointed,” “given birth”) argue for the translation of “create” or “establish” (R. N. Whybray, “Proverbs 8:22-31 and Its Supposed Prototypes,” VT 15 [1965]: 504-14; and W. A. Irwin, “Where Will Wisdom Be Found?” JBL 80 [1961]: 133-42).

² tn Verbs of creation often involve double accusatives; here the double accusative involves the person (i.e., wisdom) and an abstract noun in construct (IBHS 174-75 §10.2.3c).

³ tn Heb “his way” (so KJV, NASB). The word “way” is an idiom (implied comparison) for the actions of God.

sn The claim of wisdom in this passage is that she was foundational to all that God would do.

NET Notes: Pro 8:23

¹ tn The first parallel verb is נִסַּכְתִּי (nissakhti), “I was appointed.” It is not a common word; it occurs here and in Ps 2:6 for the coronation of the king. It means “installed, set.”

² tn The verb “existed” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation in the light of the context.

NET Notes: Pro 8:24

¹ sn The summary statements just given are now developed in a lengthy treatment of wisdom as the agent of all creation. This verse singles out “watery deeps” (תְּהֹמוֹת, tÿhomot) in its allusion to creation because the word in Genesis signals the condition of the world at the very beginning, and because in the ancient world this was something no one could control. Chaos was not there first – wisdom was.

² tn The third parallel verb is חוֹלָלְתִּי (kholalti), “I was given birth.” Some (e.g., KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV) translate it “brought forth” – not in the sense of being presented, but in the sense of being “begotten, given birth to.” Here is the strongest support for the translation of קָנָה (qanah) as “created” in v. 22. The verb is not literal; it continues the perspective of the personification.

³ tn Heb “made heavy.”

NET Notes: Pro 8:26

¹ tn Heb “open places.”

² tn Here רֹאשׁ (ro’sh) means “beginning” with reference to time (BDB 911 s.v. 4.b).

NET Notes: Pro 8:27

¹ sn The infinitive construct בְּחוּקוֹ (bÿkhuqo, “to cut; to engrave; to mark”) and the noun חוּג (khug, “horizon; circle”) form a paronomasia in the line.

NET Notes: Pro 8:28

¹ tn To form a better parallel some commentators read this infinitive בַּעֲזוֹז (ba’azoz), “when [they] grew strong,” as a Piel causative, “when he made firm, fixed fast” (cf. NIV “fixed securely”; NLT “established”). But the following verse (“should not pass over”) implies the meaning “grew strong” here.

NET Notes: Pro 8:29

¹ tn Heb “his mouth.”

NET Notes: Pro 8:30

¹ tn The verb form is a preterite with vav consecutive, although it has not been apocopated. It provides the concluding statement for the temporal clauses as well as the parallel to v. 27.

² tn Critical to the interpretation of this line is the meaning of אָמוֹן (’amon). Several suggestions have been made: “master craftsman” (cf. ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV), “nursing child” (cf. NCV), “foster father.” R. B. Y. Scott chooses “faithful” – a binding or living link (“Wisdom in Creation: The ‘Amon of Proverbs 8:30,” VT 10 [1960]: 213-23). The image of a child is consistent with the previous figure of being “given birth to” (vv. 24, 25). However, “craftsman” has the most support (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, Tg. Prov 8:30, Song 7:1; Jer 52:15; also P. W. Skehan, “Structures in Poems on Wisdom: Proverbs 8 and Sirach 24,” CBQ 41 [1979]: 365-79).

³ tn The word is a plural of intensification for “delight”; it describes wisdom as the object of delight. The LXX has the suffix; the Hebrew does not.

NET Notes: Pro 8:31

¹ tn The two words are synonymous in general and so could be taken to express a superlative idea – the “whole world” (cf. NIV, NCV). But תֵּבֵל (tevel) also means the inhabited world, and so the construct may be interpreted as a partitive genitive.

² tn Heb “and my delights” [were] with/in.”

³ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

NET Notes: Pro 8:32

¹ tn Heb “sons.”

NET Notes: Pro 8:33

¹ tn Heb “discipline.”

² tn The construction uses two imperatives joined with the vav (ו); this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is being expressed.

NET Notes: Pro 8:34

¹ tn Heb “the man.”

² tn The form לִשְׁקֹד (lishqod) is the infinitive construct serving epexegetically in the sentence. It explains how the person will listen to wisdom.

³ tn Heb “keeping” or “guarding.”

⁴ tn Heb “at the posts of my doors” (so KJV, ASV).

NET Notes: Pro 8:35

¹ tc The Kethib reads plurals: “those who find me are finders of life”; this is reflected in the LXX and Syriac. But the Qere is singular: “whoever finds me finds life.” The Qere is generally favored as the original reading in such cases as these.

² tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same nuance as the perfect tense that came before it, setting out the timeless principle.

NET Notes: Pro 8:36

¹ tn Heb “the one sinning [against] me.” The verb חָטָא (khata’, “to sin”) forms a contrast with “find” in the previous verse, and so has its basic meaning of “failing to find, miss.” So it is talking about the one who misses wisdom, as opposed to the one who finds it.

² tn The Qal active participle functions verbally here. The word stresses both social and physical harm and violence.

sn Brings harm. Whoever tries to live without wisdom is inviting all kinds of disaster into his life.

³ tn Heb “his soul.”

⁴ tn The basic idea of the verb שָׂנֵא (sane’, “to hate”) is that of rejection. Its antonym is also used in the line, “love,” which has the idea of choosing. So not choosing (i.e., hating) wisdom amounts to choosing (i.e., loving) death.