Paragraph 8:22–31
In this paragraph, Wisdom gives additional reasons why people should choose her. The LORD created Wisdom before anything else (8:22–26), and she was present with the LORD when he created the world (8:27–29). She also delighted in what the LORD created (8:30–31).
8:22–26
Verses 8:22–23 make the general claim that the LORD created Wisdom before he created the world. Verses 8:24–26 make the same claim, using expressions that refer to specific phases of creation. The LORD created or gave birth to Wisdom before he created any of these other things.
8:22
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
22a The LORD created me as His first course,
22b
before His works of old ;
There is an ellipsis in 8:22b. In some languages, it may be necessary to supply the missing words from 8:22a. For example:
22b
⌊the LORD created me⌋ before His works of old
8:22a
The LORD: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as The LORD occurs in an emphatic position in the sentence. This is because Wisdom was the subject of the previous verses, but in this paragraph, the LORD is the main character. Use a natural way in your language to indicate that the main subject is now the LORD.
created me: The Hebrew verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as created me usually means “to acquire.” However, in Genesis 14:19, it may mean “create” in the phrase “God Most High, creator of heaven and earth.” And in Gen. 4:1, when Eve had given birth to Cain, she said that she had “brought forth” a male child with the help of the LORD. In the parallel lines in 8:24–25, Wisdom says that she “was brought forth.” So in this context, “the LORD created me” means that the LORD figuratively gave birth to Wisdom.
In many languages, this figurative meaning will be difficult to understand. If that is true in your language, it is recommended that you use a nonfigurative expression, as the Berean Standard Bible does. For example:
Yahweh created me (New Jerusalem Bible)
You may also be able to use a similar term such as “made” or “caused to exist.”
as His first course: In Hebrew, this phrase is literally “the first/beginning of his way.” There are two ways to interpret what it means:
(1) Wisdom was the first thing that the LORD created. For example:
The Lord created me the first of his works (Revised English Bible)
(2) The LORD created Wisdom at/in/from the beginning. For example:
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work (New Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). It better fits the structure of the Hebrew and forms a better parallel to 8:22b.
His first course: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as His first course (literally “his way”) means the LORD’s acts or doings.
8:22b
before His works of old: There are two different ways to interpret this phrase:
(1) One way to interpret this is that the LORD created wisdom and then there was some time before He began to create other things. For example:
long before he made anything else (New Century Version)
(2) Another way to interpret this is that creating wisdom was the first in a list of things which God created.
-or-
the first of his acts of long ago (New Revised Standard Version)
Both translations indicate that wisdom was the first thing that the LORD created at the beginning, before he created anything else. If possible, it is best to translate in a general way. The main point should be that wisdom was the first thing created. For example, the Good News Translation translates the whole verse as:
The Lord created me first of all, the first of his works, long ago. (Good News Translation)
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