Proverbs 8 · Verse 23

Proverbs 8:23

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
Proverbs 8:23, King James Version

Proverbs 8:23 in other translations

BSBFrom everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the earth began.
WEBI was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed.
ASVI was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Before the earth was.
YLTFrom the age I was anointed, from the first, From former states of the earth.
DARBYI was set up from eternity, from the beginning, before the earth was.
BBEFrom eternal days I was given my place, from the birth of time, before the earth was.
WebsterI was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

What does Proverbs 8:23 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 8:22-31

22-31. 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. But to set forth the importance of wisdom as devising the products of benevolence and power, it is here assigned a precedence. As it has such in divine, so should it be desired in…

Read the full comment on Proverbs 8:22-31 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 23 I was set up from everlasting - נסכתי nissachti, "I was diffused or poured out," from נסך nasach, "to diffuse, pour abroad, as a spirit or disposition," Isa 29:10. See Parkhurst. Or from סך sach, "to cover, overspread, smear over, as with oil;" to be anointed king. Hence some have translated it, principatum habui, I had the principality, or was a ruler, governor, and director, from eternity. All the schemes, plans, and circumstances, relative to creation, government, providence, and to all being, material, animal, and intellectual, were conceived in the Divine mind, by the Divine wisdom, from eternity, or ever the earth was. There was no fortuitous creation, no jumbling concourse of original atoms, that entered into the composition of created beings; all was the effect of the plans before conceived, laid down, and at last acted upon by God's eternal wisdom.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Proverbs 8:22-31

The Son of God declares himself to have been engaged in the creation of the world. How able, how fit is the Son of God to be the Saviour of the world, who was the Creator of it! The Son of God was ordained, before the world, to that great work. Does he delight in saving wretched sinners, and shall not we delight in his salvation?

Read the full comment on Proverbs 8:22-31 →

Proverbs 8:23 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

מֵ֭עוֹלָםMe.'o.lomfrom long agoH5769
נִסַּ֥כְתִּיni.Sakh.tiI was installedH5258
מֵרֹ֗אשׁme.Roshfrom [the] beginningH7218
מִקַּדְמֵי\־mi.kad.mei-from [the] beginnings ofH6924
אָֽרֶץ\׃'A.retz[the] earthH776

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Proverbs 8:23

  • John 17:24

    Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

  • John 17:5

    And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

  • Genesis 1:26

    And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

  • Micah 5:2

    But thou, Beth–lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

  • Psalms 2:6

    Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

  • 1 John 1:1-2

    That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

  • Ephesians 1:10-11

    That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ge 1:26; Ps 2:6; Mic 5:2; Joh 17:24; Eph 1:10,11; 1Jo 1:1,2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Proverbs 8:22

    The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

  • Proverbs 8:23

    I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

  • Proverbs 8:24

    When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Read all of Proverbs 8

Proverbs 8:23 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Eternalmente tuve el principado, desde el principio, antes de la tierra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Dès l’éternité je fus établie, dès le commencement, dès avant les origines de la terre.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ich war eingesetzt von Ewigkeit her, von Anbeginn, vor den Uranfängen der Erde.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Ab æterno ordinata sum, et ex antiquis antequam terra fieret.