Proverbs 8:22–31

Wisdom’s Part in Creation

22 “The Lord created me at the beginningy of his work,z

the first of his acts of long ago.*

23 Ages ago I was set up,

at the first, before the beginning of the earth.*

24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,

when there were no springs abounding with water.

25 Before the mountains had been shaped,

before the hills, I was brought forth,*

26 when he had not yet made earth and fieldsa

or the world’s first bits of soil.

27 When he established the heavens, I was there;

when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,*

28 when he made firm the skies above,

when he established the fountains of the deep,

29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,

so that the waters might not transgress his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,*

30 then I was beside him, like a master worker,b

and I was daily hisc delight,

playing before him always,*

31 playing in his inhabited world

and delighting in the human race.*