What Does Proverbs 8:24 Mean in the King James?
When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The deep is not the source of Wisdom: she is already being brought forth before the first depth or spring exists.
THE MEANING
Wisdom’s voice is already present before what seems bottomless and before the springs that feed the world. The verse places depths and abundance after her emergence, so neither the hidden deep nor the visible source is ultimate. The reader’s own depths do not outrank Wisdom by being deep.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The deepest thing I face must be the first reality, with wisdom arriving only afterward.
THE ROOT
חוֹלָלְתִּי
ḥolalti
GROWS FROM
חול
To writhe or whirl in labor; to bring forth.
“brought forth” in this verse is ḥolalti. The word carries the image of labor and birth, so Wisdom’s emergence is pictured as more than an appearance. The same root can describe travail and the bringing forth of the earth, joining emergence to a process already in motion.
ALSO GROWS
tāḥîl: Writhe in labor or pain.
תָּחִיל
Isaiah 26:17 uses this form for labor pains, revealing the travail held inside the image of being brought forth.
vateḥolel: Bring forth or form.
וַתְּחוֹלֵל
Psalm 90:2 uses the same root for God’s forming of the earth, extending this birth-language to creation.
נִכְבַּדֵּי
nikbadei
GROWS FROM
כבד
To be heavy or weighty; by extension, to be abundant or honored.
“abounding” in this verse is nikbadei. The springs are described as heavy with water, so their abundance has substance and weight. The same root gives כָּבוֹד (kavod), weight, allowing the phrase to hold both a physical fullness and the sense of weightiness.
ALSO GROWS
kāvēd: Heavy or weighty.
כָּבֵד
This basic sense makes the springs’ abundance feel like a mass of water, not merely a count of sources.
kavod: Weight; honor or glory.
כָּבוֹד
The shared root links the water’s physical weight with the broader Hebrew language of weight.
THE PATTERN
The wisdom and order that shape creation precede its visible depths and sources.
The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.THE THREAD
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.Proverbs uses the root חול (ḥ-w-l), to writhe in labor or bring forth, for Wisdom’s emergence before the depths. Psalm 90:2 uses that same birth-root for God’s forming of the earth, extending the image from Wisdom’s emergence to creation itself.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us