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Journey of a Passage

Proverbs 8:22

"The LORD possessed me" or "created me"

Wisdom says: "YHWH qanani at the beginning of his way." Qanani can mean "acquired me," "possessed me," "created me" or "begot me." The library's Greek reads "The Lord created me" (Giguet "m'a créée"; Greek ektisen). The Vulgate reads "possessed me" (possedit me). The choice became the centre of the 4th-century Arian controversy.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

    The proverb as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

  2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Dominus possedit me in initio viarum suarum antequam quidquam faceret a principio.

    Latin position: Proverbs 8:22. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398), so the Vulgate is an indirect witness to a Hebrew text, with Jerome's interpretation.

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    יְֽהוָ֗ה קָ֭נָנִי רֵאשִׁ֣ית דַּרְכּ֑וֹ קֶ֖דֶם מִפְעָלָ֣יו מֵאָֽז׃

    The LORD qanani (possessed / created / begot me) at the beginning of his way, before his works of old

    Hebrew position: Proverbs 8:22.

  4. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

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

  5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Proverbs

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Le Seigneur m’a créée au commencement de ses voies, pour faire ses œuvres.

    Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 8:22. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published yet; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.

What changed, and why

Qanah usually means "acquire, buy" (Genesis 25:10; 47:20). In some poetic passages it seems to mean "create" or "bring forth" (Genesis 4:1, Eve: "I have gotten [qaniti] a man"; Genesis 14:19, God "possessor" or "creator of heaven and earth"; Deuteronomy 32:6; Psalm 139:13). In Proverbs 8 the parallel verbs ("I was set up / shaped," v. 23; "I was brought forth," as at birth, vv. 24–25) favour coming into being, so many modern translations read "created" or "brought forth" (NRSV, NJPS "created me"); others keep "possessed" (KJV) or "acquired."

The Old Greek ektisen ("created") was the text read by early Christians. In the 2nd century AD the Jewish translators Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion are reported to have used ektēsato ("acquired"). Jerome, translating from Hebrew, chose possedit.

In the 4th century Arius cited "The Lord created me" (Greek) to argue that the Son, identified with Wisdom, was a creature. Athanasius replied that the verse refers to the Son's taking human nature ("created" for the works), not to his eternal being. The debate shows the power of a translation choice; it does not settle what the Hebrew poet meant, which concerns personified Wisdom. See the investigation Was Wisdom Created?

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek reads 'created me' in 8:22.
  • Independently documentedThe Vulgate reads 'possessed me.'
  • Strongly supportedQanah can mean 'create' as well as 'acquire.' Disputed in individual passages.
  • DisputedThe original meaning of 8:22 is 'created.'

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Proverbs 8: Wisdom Before Creation →In Proverbs 8 Woman Wisdom speaks at length. At the gates she calls to all people: her words are true, better than silver and gold (vv. 1–11). Through her kings reign and rulers judge justly; she gives riches with righteousness (vv. 12–21). Then she tells her origin: the LORD "possessed" or "created" her at the beginning of his way, before the earth, the deeps, the mountains; she was beside him as he made the heavens and set the sea its limit, rejoicing in his world and "my delights were with the sons of men" (vv. 22–31). Whoever finds her finds life (vv. 32–36).