Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Proverbs 8:23

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

KJV

Ab æterno ordinata sum, et ex antiquis antequam terra fieret.

Vulgate

πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέν με ἐν ἀρχῇ, πρὸ τοῦ τὴν γῆν ποιῆσαι

LXX

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Before the earth was.

ASV

מֵ֭/עוֹלָם נִסַּ֥כְתִּי מֵ/רֹ֗אשׁ מִ/קַּדְמֵי אָֽרֶץ

Hebrew

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In the original Hebrew

5 distinct Hebrew words appear in this verse.

אֶ֣רֶץ
'rts
noun · 2484×
ה
h
noun · 87×
הַסֵּ֥ךְ
hsk
verb · 25×
עוֹלָֽם
'vlm
noun · 427×
רֹ֣אשׁ
r'sh
noun · 593×

Prophecy

Historic Christian voices

9 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§288Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this covenant, the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love.126 and so, the truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigour in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and…
13. It is plain then from the above that the Scriptures declare the Son's eternity; it is equally plain from what follows that the Arian phrases 'He was not,' and 'before' and 'when,' are in the same Scriptures predicated of creatures. Moses, for instance, in his account of the generation of our system, says, 'And every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every …
72. But if the Word were a work, then certainly He as others had been made in Wisdom; nor would Scripture distinguish Him from the works, nor while it named them works, preach Him as Word and own Wisdom of God. But, as it is, distinguishing Him from the works, He shows that Wisdom is Framer of the works, and not a work. This distinction Paul also observes, writing to the Hebrew…
Is there an eternal law? Is there a natural law? Is there a human law? Is there a Divine law? Is there one Divine law, or several? Is there a law of sin? Article 1. Whether there is an eternal law? Objection 1. It would seem that there is no eternal law. Because every law is imposed on someone. But there was not someone from eternity on whom a law could be imposed: since God al…
Tertullian argues that the Son proceeds from the Father as a ray proceeds from the sun — distinct yet inseparable. The Word was with God before all things, and the Word was God. The Son is a second Person, not a second God, sharing the same divine substance as the Father.
The Son was begotten of the Father before all ages — not in time, not by division of substance, but by an eternal and ineffable generation. Cyril appeals to Proverbs 8 and Micah 5 to demonstrate that the Son's origin is "from everlasting." He warns against both the Arian error (the Son is a creature) and the Sabellian error (the Father and Son are the same person).

Cross-references

  • 1John 1:1 — 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;
  • 1Pet 1:20 — Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
  • 2Thess 2:13 — But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the t
  • Gen 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
  • Isa 9:6 — For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prin
  • Isa 43:13 — Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
  • Isa 57:15 — For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of t
  • Job 26:7 — He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Mic 5:2 — But thou, Bethlehem 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, f
  • Ps 2:6 — Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
  • Ps 102:25 — Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
  • Titus 1:2 — In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;