45:6 Your throne, 1 O God, is permanent. 2
The scepter 3 of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.
145:13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, 4
and your dominion endures through all generations.
8:22 The Lord created 5 me as the beginning 6 of his works, 7
before his deeds of long ago.
8:23 From eternity I was appointed, 8
from the beginning, from before the world existed. 9
4:34 But at the end of the appointed time 10 I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up 11 toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me.
I extolled the Most High,
and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever.
For his authority is an everlasting authority,
and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.
5:2 (5:1) As for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, 12
seemingly insignificant 13 among the clans of Judah –
from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf, 14
one whose origins 15 are in the distant past. 16
1 sn The king’s throne here symbolizes his rule.
2 tn Or “forever and ever.”
3 sn The king’s scepter symbolizes his royal authority.
4 tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”
5 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).
6 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).
7 tn Heb “his way” (so KJV, NASB). The word “way” is an idiom (implied comparison) for the actions of God.
8 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.”
9 tn The verb “existed” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation in the light of the context.
10 tn Aram “days.”
11 tn Aram “lifted up my eyes.”
12 sn Ephrathah is either an alternate name for Bethlehem or the name of the district in which Bethlehem was located. See Ruth 4:11.
13 tn Heb “being small.” Some omit לִהְיוֹת (lihyot, “being”) because it fits awkwardly and appears again in the next line.
14 tn Heb “from you for me one will go out to be a ruler over Israel.”
15 tn Heb “his goings out.” The term may refer to the ruler’s origins (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) or to his activities.
16 tn Heb “from the past, from the days of antiquity.” Elsewhere both phrases refer to the early periods in the history of the world or of the nation of Israel. For מִקֶּדֶם (miqqedem, “from the past”) see Neh 12:46; Pss 74:12; 77:11; Isa 45:21; 46:10. For מִימֵי עוֹלָם (mimey ’olam, “from the days of antiquity”) see Isa 63:9, 11; Amos 9:11; Mic 7:14; Mal 3:4. In Neh 12:46 and Amos 9:11 the Davidic era is in view.