Proverbs 8:27
◄  Proverbs 8:27  ►
New International Version (©2011)
I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

New Living Translation (©2007)
I was there when he established the heavens, when he drew the horizon on the oceans.

English Standard Version (©2001)
When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
I was there when He established the heavens, when He laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean,

International Standard Version (©2012)
when he crafted the heavens, I was there— when he marked out a circle on the face of the deep,

NET Bible (©2006)
When he established the heavens, I was there; when he marked out the horizon over the face of the deep,

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
When the Heavens were established, I was with him, and when he made a circle over the face of the depths.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
"When he set up the heavens, I was there. When he traced the horizon on the surface of the ocean,

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he drew a circle upon the face of the depth:

American King James Version
When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass on the face of the depth:

American Standard Version
When he established the heavens, I was there: When he set a circle upon the face of the deep,

Douay-Rheims Bible
When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths:

Darby Bible Translation
When he prepared the heavens I was there; when he ordained the circle upon the face of the deep;

English Revised Version
When he established the heavens, I was there: when he set a circle upon the face of the deep:

Webster's Bible Translation
When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:

World English Bible
When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

Young's Literal Translation
In His preparing the heavens I am there, In His decreeing a circle on the face of the deep,

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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?

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - 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 (Genesis 1:7), Wisdom cooperated. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth. חוּג (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 (ἀψόῥῤοος), '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 Isaiah 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 (ἀφώριζε) his throne upon the winds." The translators have referred tchom, "depth," to the waters above.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 Hebrews 1:10; and even the third heaven, the place and state of glorified saints, prepared for them from the foundation of the world, Matthew 25:34;

when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: or "compassed the waters with bounds", as Job says, Proverbs 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, Isaiah 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.

(p) "describendo circulum", Montanus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. 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.

Proverbs 8:27 Parallel Commentaries

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The Excellence of Wisdom
…26While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 27When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass on the face of the depth: 28When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: …

Job 26:10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.
Proverbs 3:19 By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;
Proverbs 8:26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth.
Proverbs 8:28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
Isaiah 40:22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.