8:23 From eternity I was appointed, 1
from the beginning, from before the world existed. 2
8:24 When there were no deep oceans 3 I was born, 4
when there were no springs overflowing 5 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, 6
or the beginning 7 of the dust of the world.
8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he marked out the horizon 8 over the face of the deep,
8:28 when he established the clouds above,
when the fountains of the deep grew strong, 9
8:29 when he gave the sea his decree
that the waters should not pass over his command, 10
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
8:30 then I was 11 beside him as a master craftsman, 12
and I was his delight 13 day by day,
rejoicing before him at all times,
8:31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, 14
and delighting 15 in its people. 16
17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, 17 so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world 18 .
16:25 21 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages,
16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant 22 of the church in Cenchrea,
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.
3 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.
4 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.
5 tn Heb “made heavy.”
6 tn Heb “open places.”
7 tn Here רֹאשׁ (ro’sh) means “beginning” with reference to time (BDB 911 s.v. 4.b).
8 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.
9 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.
10 tn Heb “his mouth.”
11 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.
12 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).
13 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.
14 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.
15 tn Heb “and my delights” [were] with/in.”
16 tn Heb “the sons of man.”
17 tn Grk “the ones you have given me, I want these to be where I am with me.”
18 tn Grk “before the foundation of the world.”
19 sn Who makes these things known. The remark emphasizes how God’s design of these things reaches back to the time he declared them.
20 sn An allusion to Isa 45:21.
21 tc There is a considerable degree of difference among the
22 tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.
23 tn Grk “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
24 tn Grk “heart.”
25 tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.
26 tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).
27 sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.
28 tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.
30 tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”