“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work”: “Lord” was first used in 1.7. See there for comments. “Created” renders a word that has caused considerable dispute. The word is used, for instance, in 1.5; 4.5, 7 with the sense of getting or acquiring skill, insight, or wisdom. It is used in 20.14 to refer to buying something. In Gen 4.1 it is used of Eve giving birth to Cain, where the verb is a wordplay on Cain’s name. In Deut 32.6 it means “create,” as it does in Psa 139.13, where the psalmist speaks of God creating him in his mother’s womb. The Septuagint and some of the other ancient versions say “create,” and this is followed by Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and Good News Translation.

In the translation of poetry it is important to remember that the language is highly figurative. Accordingly, if the word is taken to mean “to give birth,” as Eve does to Cain in Gen 4.1, or “acquire,” “get,” or “obtain,” it does not mean that the Lord literally gave birth to Wisdom nor that he acquired Wisdom who was already in existence before creation. If the translation of these terms may suggest the literal events, it is best to say “create,” that is, “to cause to be” or “to make.”

“The beginning of his work” is literally “the beginning of his way.” See the Revised Standard Version footnote. “Way” is used in the same sense here as in Job 26.14, where “way” refers to the acts, doings, workings of God or what God does. “The beginning” is understood variously by interpreters because the Hebrew does not say “at the beginning” or “in the beginning.” The word rendered “beginning” stands in apposition to “me”, that is, “beginning” explains “me” rather than being the time when “me” (Wisdom) was created, as Revised Standard Version has it. New Revised Standard Version has a note on “beginning” which says “Or me as the beginning.” The meaning is “The Lord created me first of all” (Good News Translation). Revised English Bible has “The Lord created me the first of his works.” We may also say, for instance, “I was the first thing that the Lord created.”

“The first of his acts of old”: “First” translates a word that is again in apposition to “me” in the first line and matches “beginning” in sense. “Acts”, which matches “work”, translates a word meaning “doings” or “workings.” “Of old” means “from long ago” or “before the oldest [of his works].” Bible en français courant restructures the two lines of this verse by saying “The Lord created me a long time ago, as the first of his works, before all the rest.” Another translation says “Long, long ago, when the Lord was about to make everything, he made me first.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .