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Proverbs 8:25-27
New English Translation
Proverbs 8:25-27
New English Translation
25 before the mountains were set in place—
before the hills—I was born,[a]
26 before he made the earth and its fields,[b]
or the top soil[c] of the world.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he marked out the horizon[d] over the face of the deep,
Footnotes
- Proverbs 8:25 tn This is not the common verb for being born (Niphal of יָלַד, yalad). The nuance of חוֹלָלְתִּי (kholalti, the Polal of חִיל, [khil]) emphasizes being birthed through labor pains.
- Proverbs 8:26 tn Heb “open places.”
- Proverbs 8:26 tn Heb “the head of the soil of the world.” The noun ראֹשׁ (roʾsh, “head”) can refer to the topmost of something or the first of something. The noun עָפָר (ʿafar, “dirt clods”) can refer to dust (“fine dry top soil”), loose earth, or soil (HALOT 862, s.v.).tc BHS proposes דֶשֶׁא (desheʾ, “grass”) instead of ראֹשׁ which assumes both the common confusion of ד (dalet) and ר (resh), as well as the reversal of the final two letters. This would mean “the vegetation of the world’s soil.”
- Proverbs 8:27 sn The infinitive construct בְּחוּקוֹ (bekhuqo, “to cut; to engrave; to mark”) and the noun חוּג (khug, “horizon; circle”) form a paronomasia in the line.
New English Translation (NET)
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