Here is how to refute the Jehovah's Witnesses' false claim that the speaker in Proverbs 8 is Jesus as they try to support their heresy that Jesus is not the Creator but a creature, who was then used to create the earth.
Jehovah's Witness - But Jesus said in Proverbs 8:24 and 25, "I was brought forth" before the earth was created, and said in Proverbs 8:30 that he is the "master worker" whom God used to create the earth.
Christian - Proverbs is a book of instructions on
wisdom written mostly by Solomon, who famously asked God to give him
"wisdom" (1 Chronicles 1:10) and received it;
most of the
31 Proverbs specifically mention "wisdom." Proverbs is also set in Hebrew
poetry, and for poetic vividness, wisdom is personified - ie. depicted as if it
were a person - in Proverbs 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9. For example,
Proverbs 1:20 says, "Wisdom calls aloud outside;
she raises her voice in the open squares." Could you
please google "Proverbs 1:20 biblehub.com interlinear" and click on the first search
result?
Jehovah's Witness - Ok, I did. (He
won't say he wants to use the Jehovah's Witnesses' Kingdom Interlinear since
it only covers the Greek in the New Testament, not the Hebrew in the Old
Testament.)
Christian - Hebrew is read from right to left. What do the
last two words mean when you read them from the right to left?
Jehovah's Witness - "She
raises her voice"
(from
this page, copied below).
Christian - Do you see the "3fs"
designation under both of those two Hebrew words?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes.
Christian - Please hover the cursor over
them. What does that designation mean?
Jehovah's Witness - "Third person feminine
singular" (underlined in red above).
Christian - And that is why, as you can see in
this page, all English Bibles translate these two words with the third
person feminine singular pronouns "she" and "her." The only exception is the
New
World Translation, which, because calling wisdom "she" and "her" would make it
difficult to claim that wisdom is Jesus, changed "she" to "it" and "her" to
"its," hoping that nobody would notice. But there is another word that
they couldn't change as changing it would have been too noticeable. Could you please read Proverbs 7:4 in
your translation?
Jehovah's Witness - "Say to wisdom, 'You are my
sister,' and call understanding 'my relative.' "
Christian - "Sister" is someone who is female,
isn't she?
Jehovah's Witness - Of course.
Christian - Does the Bible ever identify Jesus as someone who
is female?
Jehovah's Witness - Of course not.
Christian - So is this "wisdom," who is being called a
"sister," "she," and "her," referring to Jesus?
Jehovah's Witness - Of course not.
Christian - You quoted from Proverbs 8:24, 25 and 30. Could
you please scroll up that Proverb - Proverbs 8 - and read the first two words of
Proverbs 8:12 so that we can identify who is saying the words you quoted?
Jehovah's Witness - "I, wisdom."
Christian - So the words you quoted are simply saying that God created the earth
with wisdom, which is nothing new since it was already declared earlier in
Proverbs. Could you please read the first sentence in Proverbs 3:19 in
your translation?
Jehovah's Witness - "Jehovah founded the
earth in wisdom."
Christian - Do you now see that the "wisdom" in Proverbs 8 is
what it says -
wisdom - and not Jesus?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes.
Christian - Now, when they taught you that Proverbs 8 is about
Jesus, did you read Proverbs to verify that for yourself or did you simply
accept their teaching?
Jehovah's Witness - I simply accepted it.
Christian - Going forward, should you simply believe
whatever they tell you to believe or should you verify what they tell you
to believe by reading for yourself what the Bible, especially the original text
of the Bible, says?
Jehovah's Witness - I should verify it in the
Bible.
Christian - And since one of the things they told you to
believe is false, would it be wise to verify the other things they
have told you over the years to believe?
Jehovah's Witness - I guess so.