I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
Parallel translations
- WEB I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed.
- BSB From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the earth began.
- NKJV I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
- NASB “From eternity I was established, From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
- NLT I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Wisdom was established from everlasting, before the earth existed. She belongs to the eternal foundations of God's purposes.
Overview
Wisdom's origin is placed in the remotest past, 'from everlasting,' underscoring her priority over the created order. This poetic personification highlights that God's wise design preceded and undergirds the world he made. Christians see this ultimately fulfilled in the eternal Word, through whom and for whom all things were made (Colossians 1:16-17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- John 17:24Father, 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.
- Gen 1:26And 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 every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- Ps 2:6Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
- Mic 5:2But 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, from everlasting.
- John 17:5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
- 1 Jn 1:1–2That 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;
- Eph 1:10–11That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 8:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.