Discovery BoxProverbs 8:24 
Context8:24 When there were no deep oceans 1 I was born, 2
when there were no springs overflowing 3 with water;
Proverbs 8:27
Context8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he marked out the horizon 4 over the face of the deep,
Proverbs 20:5
Context20:5 Counsel 5 in a person’s heart 6 is like 7 deep water, 8
but an understanding person 9 draws it out.
Proverbs 25:3
Context25:3 As the heaven is high 10 and the earth is deep
so the hearts of kings are unsearchable. 11
1 sn The summary statements just given are now developed in a lengthy treatment of wisdom as the agent of all creation. This verse singles out “watery deeps” (תְּהֹמוֹת, tÿhomot) in its allusion to creation because the word in Genesis signals the condition of the world at the very beginning, and because in the ancient world this was something no one could control. Chaos was not there first – wisdom was.
2 tn The third parallel verb is חוֹלָלְתִּי (kholalti), “I was given birth.” Some (e.g., KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV) translate it “brought forth” – not in the sense of being presented, but in the sense of being “begotten, given birth to.” Here is the strongest support for the translation of קָנָה (qanah) as “created” in v. 22. The verb is not literal; it continues the perspective of the personification.
3 tn Heb “made heavy.”
4 sn The infinitive construct בְּחוּקוֹ (bÿkhuqo, “to cut; to engrave; to mark”) and the noun חוּג (khug, “horizon; circle”) form a paronomasia in the line.
5 sn The noun means “advice, counsel”; it can have the connotation of planning or making decisions. Those with understanding can sort out plans.
6 tn Heb “in the heart of a man”; NRSV “in the human mind.”
7 tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.
8 sn The motives or plans of a person are “difficult to fathom”; it takes someone with understanding to discover and surface them (the verb in the last colon continues the figure with the sense of bringing the plans to the surface and sorting them out).
9 tn Heb “a man of understanding”; TEV “someone with insight”; NLT “the wise.”
10 tn Heb “heavens for height and earth for depth.” The proverb is clearly intending the first line to be an illustration of the second – it is almost emblematic parallelism.
11 sn The proverb is affirming a simple fact: The king’s plans and decisions are beyond the comprehension of the common people. While the king would make many things clear to the people, there are other things that are “above their heads” or “too deep for them.” They are unsearchable because of his superior wisdom, his caprice, or his need for secrecy. Inscrutability is sometimes necessary to keep a firm grip on power.
