The LXX (Septuagint), the very first translation of the Holy Scriptures, made several centuries before Christ, and was used by him and by the Apostles, had a variety of words it could have used for Qanah at Prov 8:22 [for instance KTAOMAI, LAMBANW, DECOMAI], but it settled on one. The Greek word for "Created" is EKTISEN (#2936). It is used at Mark 13:19; 1Tim 4:3 and Revelation 10:6. The Septuagint uses this word only once in Proverbs, and that is at chapter 8 verse 22. This is how this word (qanah) was understood by the Jews and early Christians in this verse.
Bullinger states in his Companion Bible: "Heb. kanah. Occurs 86 times in O.T.; rendered 'possess' only four times...Sept. and Syr. render it 'created.'"
From a footnote on the NET translation of Proverbs 8:22 found at www.bible.org:
“There are two roots in Hebrew, one meaning ‘to possess,’ and the other meaning ‘to create.’ The older translations did not know of the second root, but suspected in certain places that a meaning like that was necessary (e.g., Genesis 4:1; 14:19; Deuteronomy 32:6). Ugaritic confirmed that it was indeed another root. The older versions have the translation ‘possess’ because otherwise it sounds like God lacked wisdom and therefore created it at the beginning. They wanted to avoid saying that wisdom was not eternal. Arius liked the idea of Christ as the wisdom of God and so chose the translation ‘create.’ Athanasius translated it, ‘constituted me as the head of creation.’ The verb occurs twelve times in Proverbs with the meaning of ‘to acquire’; but the Greek and the Syriac versions have the meaning ‘create.’
Although the idea is that wisdom existed before creation, the parallel ideas in these verses (‘appointed,’ ‘given birth’) argue for the translation of ‘create’ or ‘establish’ (R. N.
Whybray, ‘Proverbs 8:22-31 and Its Supposed Prototypes,’VT 15 [1965]: 504-14; and W. A. Irwin, ‘Where Will Wisdom Be Found?’ JBL 80 [1961]: 133-42).” Many translators render qanahas “created.”.
“Gesenius gives as the primary meaning of qanah: ‘to get, to gain, to obtain, to acquire.’ Davies gives it the meaning of ‘to form or make, to get or acquire, to gain or buy.’ Strong defines qanah as ‘to erect, i.e., to create; by extension to procure, especially by purchase.’ ” —The Great Debate, by Robert Wagoner
The following passages translate in the KJV, the word “qanah” as buy, bought or buyer.
Gen. 25:10
33:19
39:1
47:19,22,23
49:30
50:13
Exodus 15:16
21:2
Leviticus 22:11
25: 15,28,30,44,45,50
27:24
Deuteronomy 28:68
32:6
Joshua 24:32
Ruth 4:4,5,9,10
2 Samuel 12:3
24:24
1 Kings 16:24
2 Kings 22:6
1 Chron. 21:24
Nehemiah 5:16
Proverbs 20:14
Ecclesiastes 2:7
Isaiah 24:2
43:24
Jeremiah 13:2,4
32:7,8,9,,15,25,43,44
Ezekiel 7:12
Zechariah 11:5
13:5
The following places render “qanah” as obtain, gained, get or gotten.
Gen 4:1 (acquired, NJB)
Psalms 74:2
78:54
Proverbs 1:5 (acquire, NJB)
4:5,7 (acquire, NJB)
15:32
16:16
17:16 (buy, NJB)
18:5, 22
23:23 (purchase, NJB)
Isaiah 11:11
It is rendered as “cause” (making, Young's Literal) at Ezekiel 8:3
It is rendered “redeemed”(bought, NIV) at Nehemiah 5:8
It is rendered “possessed’ or “possessor” at:
Genesis 14:19, 22 and Psalm 139:13
As we can seen “qanah” always indicates something that was not previously possessed.
C.F. Burney, in his article, stated:
"[T]he verb kana [Burney's spelling] always seems to possess the sense ‘get, acquire’, never the sense ‘possess, own’ simply, apart from the idea of possessing something which has been acquired in one way or another. This clearly appears from examination of the usages of the verb in Hebrew, and through comparison of the cognate languages.…To this evidence for the Hebrew usage of the verb hnq it is important for our purpose to add the proper name Elkana, which can hardly mean anything else than ‘(He whom) God has begotten or created’….Whether kana here has the sense ‘beget’ or ‘create’ is ambiguous….In face of this evidence we must surely conclude that the ground-meaning of kana is that of acquiring something not previously possessed, which may be done by buying or making it, in the case of a child by begetting it, in the case of wisdom by accumulating it through mental application. (emphasis added)."
Surely, to contend that Almighty God had to acquire wisdom by mental application, is at variance with the data given to us about Him in His Word.
The Hebrew qanah as created can be viewed in passages like the following:
Genesis 4:1: “And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, “I have gotten [qanah] a man with the help of Jehovah.”—ASV.
Genesis 14:19: “[A]nd he [Melchizedek] blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator [qanah, margin, “or, Possessor”] of heaven and earth.”—NIV.
Genesis 14:22: “But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have raised my hand to the LORD God Most High, Creator [qanah] of heaven and earth.”—NIV.
Deuteronomy 32:6: “[I]s this the way you repay the LORD foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator [qanah, “he-created you”—The NIV Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament,
John R. Kohlenberger III] who made and formed —NIV.
TRANSLATION COMPARISON
Proverbs 8:22
1. Rotherham 1897 ............................................................... “constituted” & “created”
2. Jerusalem Bible 1966 (Catholic) ..................................... “created”
3. Berkeley Version 1963 (Baptist) ..................................... “made”
4. Revised Standard Version 1952 .......................................“created’
5. New English Bible 1970 ................................................. “created”
6. Living Bible 1971 ........................................................... “formed”
7. Thomson’s Septuagint 1808 ............................................ “created”
8. Brenton’s Septuagint 1879 ...............................................“created”
9. Confraternity of Christian Doctrine 1955 (Catholic) .......“created”
10. Jewish Publ. Society 1955 .............................................“made”
11. Leeser, I. (Jewish) .........................................................“created”
12. Today’s English Version (A.B.S.) 1972 ....................... “created”
13. Basic Bible 1950 .......................................................... “made”
14. Lamsa, G.M. 1957 ........................................................ “created”
15. Restoration of the Original Sacred Name Bible 1970 .. “constitute”
16. Byington, S.T. 1972 ..................................................... “framed” & “constitute”
17. Fenton. F. 1903 ............................................................ “framed”& “constitute”
18. Knox, R. 1956 (Catholic) ............................................. “made”
19. Confraternity Version (Catholic) 1963 ..........................“begot”
20. Moffatt, J. 1950 ............................................................ “formed”
21. Amplified Bible 1965 .................................................. “formed”
22. American Standard Version 1901 ................................. footnote - “formed”
23. Revised Version 1898 .................................................. footnote - “formed”
24 Moulton, R.G. 1914 ...................................................... “formed”
25. Kent, C.F. (Shorter Bible) 1922 .................................. “formed”
26. New World Translation 1963 ......................................“produced”
27. Goodspeed 1963 ........................................................ “formed” & “fashioned”
28. Common Bible ........................................................... “created” & “set-up”
29. New American Bible 1970 (Catholic) ....................... “begot” & “Firstborn”
30. BECK, W. F. ...............................................................“Became my Father “ (PREFACES with the sub-heading - “God’s Son”)
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