Proverbs 8:26-32

8:26 before he made the earth and its fields, ¹ 

or the beginning ²  of the dust of the world.

8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there;

when he marked out the horizon ³  over the face of the deep,

8:28 when he established the clouds above,

when the fountains of the deep grew strong, ⁴ 

8:29 when he gave the sea his decree

that the waters should not pass over his command, ⁵ 

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

8:30 then I was ⁶  beside him as a master craftsman, ⁷ 

and I was his delight ⁸  day by day,

rejoicing before him at all times,

8:31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, ⁹ 

and delighting ¹⁰  in its people. ¹¹ 

8:32 “So now, children, ¹²  listen to me;

blessed are those who keep my ways.

[8:26]  ¹ tn Heb “open places.”

[8:26]  ² tn Here רֹאשׁ (ro’sh) means “beginning” with reference to time (BDB 911 s.v. 4.b).

[8:27]  ³ 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.

[8:28]  ⁵ 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.

[8:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “his mouth.”

[8:30]  ⁹ 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.

[8:30]  ¹⁰ 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).

[8:30]  ¹¹ 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.

[8:31]  ¹¹ 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.

[8:31]  ¹² tn Heb “and my delights” [were] with/in.”

[8:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[8:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “sons.”