When he established the heavens, I was there. When he set a circle on the surface of the deep,
Parallel Translations
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When he established the heavens, I was there. When he set a circle on the surface of the deep,
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When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
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When He established the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle upon the face of the deep,
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Proverbs 8:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 26:10 He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.
- Isaiah 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
- Proverbs 3:19 By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.
- Psalms 136:5 to him who by understanding made the heavens; for his loving kindness endures forever:
- Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.
- Isaiah 40:11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
- Jeremiah 10:12 God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.
- Psalms 33:6 By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth.
- Hebrews 1:2 has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
- Psalms 103:19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I [was]…
Pro 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I [was] there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
Ver. 27. When he prepared the heavens.] Or, Caused them to be prepared, took order to have it done, viz., by me, who was with him, and "by whom he made the worlds." {Heb 1:1-14 : 3Jn 1:3 Col 1:16} "For the Father loveth the Son, and hath put all things into his hand." {Joh 3:35}
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When he set a compass.] Or, Drew a circle round about the earth, meaning the outspread firmament of heaven. {Gen 1:6} Howbeit the Hebrews understand it of the world of angels, called by them the third world, or the third heaven; whereunto St Paul also seems to allude in 2Co 12:2.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I was there, not as an idle spectator, but…
I was there, not as an idle spectator, but as a co-worker with my Father.
Of the depth, i.e. of that great and deep abyss of water and earth mixed together, which is called both earth and water, and the deep, Gen 1:2. When he made this lower world round, or in the form of a globe, agreeable to the form of the upper world.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain When he prepared the heavens, I was there,.... Made,…
When he prepared the heavens, I was there,.... Made, beautified, and adorned them; when he gave them their form, figure, magnitude, and motion; when he garnished them with the sun, moon, and stars; then was Christ present, not as a mere spectator, but as a co-worker; see Heb 1:10; and even the third heaven, the place and state of glorified saints, prepared for them from the foundation of the world, Mat 25:34;
when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: or "compassed the waters with bounds", as Job says, Pro 26:10; or made the earth with the sea globular, which make one terraqueous globe: or "made a circle" (p); all around it, called the circle of the earth, on which he sits, Isa 40:22; this compass may design the vast expanse or firmament of heaven, which is stretched and drawn around the terraqueous globe as a canopy or curtain. Christ was with his Father on the first day's creation of the heavens; and on the second day, when the firmament was made, and was before them both.
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(p) "describendo circulum", Montanus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I was there - As co-worker with my Father.…
I was there - As co-worker with my Father. Depth - Of that great abyss of water and earth mixed together, which is called both earth and water and the deep, Gen. i, 2, when he made this lower world in the form of a globe.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 27. When he prepared the heavens, I was…
Verse 27. When he prepared the heavens, I was there] For there is no part of the creation of God in which wisdom, skill, contrivance, are more manifest, than in the construction of the visible heavens.
When he set a compass upon the face of the depth] Does not this refer to the establishment of the law of gravitation? by which all the particles of matter, tending to a common centre, would produce in all bodies the orbicular form, which we see them have; so that even the waters are not only retained within their boundaries, but are subjected to the circular form, in their great aggregate of seas, as other parts of matter are. This is called here making a compass, בחקו חוג bechukko chug, sweeping a circle; and even this on the face of the deep, to bring the chaotic mass into form, regularity, and order.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 8:27-29. When he prepared the heavens I was…
Pro 8:27-29. When he prepared the heavens I was there — Not as an idle spectator, but as a co-worker with my Father. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth — Of that great abyss of water and earth, mixed together, which is called both earth, and water, and the deep, (Gen 1:2,) when he made this lower world in the form of a globe. When he established the clouds above — Hebrew, strengthened them, by his word and decree, which alone upholds the clouds in the air, which otherwise would quickly be dissolved or dispersed. When he strengthened the fountains — When he shut up the several fountains in the cavities of the earth, and kept them there, as it were, by a strong hand, for the use of man and beast; of the deep — Which fountains have their originals from the deep, either from the sea, or from the abyss of waters, in the bowels of the earth. When he gave to the sea his decree — Its bounds or limits, namely, by those parts of the earth which border upon it; that the waters should not pass his commandment — Should not overflow the earth; when he appointed — Or fixed; the foundations of the earth — Hung the earth, self- balanced, upon its centre, or gave the earth its firm standing upon its foundations, notwithstanding all the assaults which the waters of the sea, or those in the bowels of the earth make against it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain A compass - Better as in the margin and…
A compass - Better as in the margin and Job 22:14 (see the note), i. e., the great vault of heaven stretched over the deep seas.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain
CHAPTER VIII.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain when he set . . . depth--marked out the…
when he set . . . depth--marked out the circle, according to the popular idea of the earth, as circular, surrounded by depths on which the visible concave heavens rested.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 27. The teacher now ascends to the visible heavens,…
27. The teacher now ascends to the visible heavens, (the region of the atmosphere,) as they appear to the eye.
When he prepared — בהכינו, prepared, disposed, adjusted, according to their established order or laws.
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The heavens — The רקיע, (rakia’h,) or expanse of Gen_1:6.
When he set a compass — In his defining the circle, or sphere: when he described a circle upon the face of the depth, תהום, (tehom,) the abyss, of the atmosphere; more probably of the apparent resting of the concave heavens, the atmosphere — the sphere of air over the abyss beneath; a poetic description in accordance with the appearance.
I was there — Hebrews, emphatic — There was I. Comp. Isa_40:22; Job_26:10. Translation, according to the sense: When he disposed the heavens there was I — when he swept (his) circle upon the face of the (great) abyss.
There is in this and the following verses a change in the form of the predicate concerning wisdom. When the antemundane period is spoken of, the ‘holam — eternity — “the beginning,” she belonged to Jehovah — she existed as the attribute of the eternal Mind. She was produced, originated, (a poetical conception of the period of actual exertion or manifestation,) when she began to act, as in the work of creation. She was there, was with him.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 27. compass] Rather, circle, R.V. text, A.V. marg. The…
27. compass] Rather, circle, R.V. text, A.V. marg. The reference is to the heavens, just mentioned, which seem to stand like a vault or dome upon the sea, marked out by the circle of the horizon on its surface. Comp. Job_22:14.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (27) When he set a compass upon the face…
(27) When he set a compass upon the face of the depth—i.e., when He stretched the vault of heaven over it: the same expression is used in Job_22:14. It is also interpreted of the circle of the horizon.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain After asserting the pre-existence of Wisdom, the writer tells…
After asserting the pre-existence of Wisdom, the writer tells her part in the work of creation. When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When God made the firmament, and divided the waters above it and below, (Gen_1:7) Wisdom cooperated. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth. gWj (chug), "circle," or "circuit", (as Job_22:14) means the vault of heaven, conceived of as resting on the ocean which surrounds the earth, in partial accordance with the notion in Homer, who speaks of the streams of ocean flowing back into itself (aqorroov ), "Iliad," 18:399; "Odyssey," 10:508, etc. That the reference is not to the marking out a limit for the waters is plain from the consideration that this interpretation would make the verse identical with ver. 29. Thus in Isa_40:22 we have, "It is he that sitteth above the circle (chug) of the earth;" i.e. the vault of heaven that encircles the earth. Septuagint, "When he marked out (afwrize ) his throne upon the winds." The translators have referred tchom, "depth," to the waters above.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:27-29 God used his wisdom to establish the created…
8:27-29 God used his wisdom to establish the created order, so wisdom can tell us how the world works and testifies to God’s greatness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.