Wisdom "before his works": יְהוָה קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ (Prov 8:22)

Says Personified wisdom says יְהוָה קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ (YHWH qanani re'shit darko; BSB "created me as His first course"). The verb is קָנָה (qanah), Qal perfect 3ms with a 1cs suffix. Its usual sense in Proverbs is "acquire, get": קְנֵה חָכְמָה (qeneh khokhmah, "get wisdom," 4:5). In Gen 14:19, קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ may mean "Possessor" or "Maker" of heaven and earth, and the LXX there renders ὃς ἔκτισεν. The verses that follow use birth language: חוֹלָלְתִּי (kholalti, "I was brought forth," 8:24–25), and LXX 8:25 has γεννᾷ με ("he begets me"). LXX Prov 8:22 reads Κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ, and 8:23 adds ἐν ἀρχῇ.

Implies The sense of qanah is open ("possessed," "brought forth," or "created"); the Hebrew alone does not settle it. Both 8:22 (רֵאשִׁית) and LXX 8:23 (ἐν ἀρχῇ) share "beginning" vocabulary with Gen 1:1 and John 1:1.

Uncertain Many have read Wisdom here as Christ. Justin Martyr cites Prov 8:22–25 to show that the Father begot the Son, his Word and Wisdom, before all creatures (Dial. 61; 129). Calvin counts Prov 8:22, where Solomon "introduces Wisdom as begotten by God," among the proofs of the Son's eternal deity (Inst. 1.13.7).

The team reads Prov 8 in context as personification of God's own wisdom (3:19: בְּחָכְמָה יָסַד־אָרֶץ, "by wisdom he founded the earth"). Here it is imagery, not exegetical support for eternal generation. This does not deny the doctrine (see note.exegetical.John.1.14-John.1.18.eternal-generation). John 1:1–3 places the Word on the Creator's side ("all things came into being through him"), never among created things.