In the earlier verses Wisdom claims to have been created first. In verses 27-30 she claims to have witnessed God’s acts of creation.

“When he established the heavens, I was there”: “Established” renders a word meaning to “set in place” or to “fix” something firmly in place. This line may need to be modified to say, for example, “I was present [or, I was with him] when he put the heavens in their place.” For “the heavens” see 3.19.

“When he drew a circle on the face of the deep”: “Drew” translates a word meaning to cut, engrave, or inscribe. The word translated “circle” occurs in a similar passage in Job 22.14, where it refers to the horizon or the line where the sky and the land seem to meet at a great distance. In this case it is the meeting line of the sky and the ocean. “Deep” is the same word as used in verse 24 and rendered “depths”; its meaning is “oceans.” We may translate this verse, for example, “I was present when the Lord placed the sky above and when he drew the line of the horizon around the ocean” or “. . . and he marked the place where the sky and the sea would meet.”

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 .