- Proverbs 8:22-31
חָכְמָ֥ה (wisdom) is a feminine noun in Hebrew.
The part of Prov. 8:30 in question is וָֽאֶהְיֶ֥ה אֶצְלֹ֗ו אָ֫מֹ֥ון
(MT) "I (fem.) was beside him (masc.) a master craftsman (masc.).
While gender of pronouns tend to match the noun they modify, the gender of nouns is build into the noun. Who אָ֫מֹ֥ון is not clear and may be a play on words. The tendency among translations even JPS is to associate it with wisdom, but as a comparison to. Master craftsman אָ֫מֹ֥ון may be a play on the word. If you make it feminine אֲמָנָה, it means faith. As an adverb, אָמְנָה means truly. As an adverb, אָמֵן is our word "amen." In construction to say that you "true" something is to make it straight, level, or straight up and down; to make it the way it is supposed to be.
The point to Proverbs 8:22-31 is God created the universe with intelligent design, with purpose.
22 “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
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 before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
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 workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.
(Prov. 8:22–31, ESV)
“The LORD created me at the beginning of His course
As the first of His works of old.
23In the distant past I was fashioned,
At the beginning, at the origin of earth.
24There was still no deep when I was brought forth,
No springs rich in water;
25Before [the foundation of] the mountains were sunk,
Before the hills I was born.
26He had not yet made earth and fields,
Or the world’s first clumps of clay.
27I was there when He set the heavens into place;
When He fixed the horizon upon the deep;
28When He made the heavens above firm,
And the fountains of the deep gushed forth;
29When He assigned the sea its limits,
So that its waters never transgress His command;
When He fixed the foundations of the earth,
30I was with Him as a confidant,
A source of delight every day,
Rejoicing before Him at all times,
31Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
Finding delight with mankind.
(Prov. 8:22–31, JPS Tanakh)
- John 1:1-14 in contrast
Wisdom is created by God (יְֽהוָ֗ה קָ֭נָנִי רֵאשִׁ֣ית
, MT) and with God as an attribute. It is not equated with God, as is the Word (θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος, in John 1:1, NA28)
Wisdom is a literary personification; not an actual person as is the Word (ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, in John 1:14).
Wisdom is with God during creation but not described as an agent of creation as is the Word (πάντα διʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, in John 1:3, NA28)
