Proverbs 8:26
in Proverbs 8before He made the land or fields, or any of the dust of the earth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
KJV
While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
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This verse in Proverbs 8
Commentary
9 notes on this verse"Before he made anything from the beginning," etc. Similar to this in the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him" (John 1). Perish those, therefore, who deny that …
This site's exposition
The LORD created me as His first course
on Proverbs 8:22-26
The argument turns on the Hebrew qanah, which the King James renders possessed and the Septuagint created. On that Greek reading the Arians called the Son a creature. One reading takes wisdom as God's personified attribute, and another reads toward Christ “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).
This site's exposition
any of the dust of the earth
Clarke renders the dust of the earth as the first particle of matter. Wisdom is older than the smallest grain. The list has come down from depths and mountains to fields and dust.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The earth - The dry land called earth after it was separated from the waters Gen. i, 10. Fields - The plain and open parts of the earth distinguished from the mountains.
While as yet he had not made the earth,....
The eternal Word had a being before man was made, for in him was the life of men. His agency in making the world. He not only had a being before the world, but he was present, not as a spectator, but as the architect, when the world was made.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The highest part of the dust of the world - ראש עפרות תבל rosh aphroth tebel, “the first particle of matter.” The prima materia, the primitive atom. All these verses (verses 3-29) are a periphrasis for I existed before creation, consequently before time was. I dwelt in God as a principle which might be communicated in its influences to intellectual beings when formed.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Strictly, God's attributes are part of Himself. Yet, to the poetical structure of the whole passage, this commendation of wisdom is entirely consonant. In order of time all His attributes are coincident and eternal as Himself.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The highest part of the dust of the world - literally, “the head of the dusts of the world;” an image of either: (1) the dry land, habitable, fit for cultivation, as contrasted with the waters of the chaotic deep; or (2) man himself. Compare Ecc 3:20.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עָ֭שָׂה | ʾasah | he had made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| אֶ֣רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וְחוּצ֑וֹת | vechutzot | and [the] open places | H2351 → | 164 times |
| וְ֝רֹ֗אשׁ | verosh | and [the] first of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| עָפְר֥וֹת | aferot | [the] dusts of | H6083 → | |
| תֵּבֵֽל׃ | tevel | [the] world | H8398 → |
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
עָ֭שָׂהhe had made
ʾasahH6213 →2628 times
אֶ֣רֶץ[the] earth
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
וְחוּצ֑וֹתand [the] open places
vechutzotH2351 →164 times
וְ֝רֹ֗אשׁand [the] first of
veroshH7218 →599 times
עָפְר֥וֹת[the] dusts of
aferotH6083 →
תֵּבֵֽל׃[the] world
tevelH8398 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this chapter
About Proverbs
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.