Proverbs 1-5 (Douay-Rheims American)
1 The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.
2 To know wisdom, and instruction:
3 To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity:
4 To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding.
5 A wise man shall hear and shall be wiser: and he that understandeth, shall possess governments.
6 He shall understand a parable, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9 That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck.
10 My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them.
11 If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares for the innocent without cause:
12 Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit.
13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoils.
14 Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse.
15 My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their paths.
16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17 But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings.
18 And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise deceits against their own souls.
19 So the wage of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors.
20 Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying:
22 O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?
23 Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words.
24 Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded.
25 You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions.
26 I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared.
27 When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you:
28 Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me:
29 Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord,
30 Nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices.
32 The turning away of little ones shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils.
2 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee,
2 That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: Incline thy heart to know prudence:
3 For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence:
4 If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure:
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God.
6 Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge.
7 He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity.
8 Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path.
10 If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul:
11 Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,
12 That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things:
13 Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways:
14 Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things:
15 Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.
16 That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words:
17 And forsaketh the guide of her youth,
18 And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell.
19 None that go in unto her shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life,
20 That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just.
21 For they that are upright shall dwell in the earth, and the simple shall continue in it.
22 But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly shall be taken away from it.
3 My son, forget not my law, and let thy heart keep my commandments.
2 For they shall add to thee length of days, and years of life and peace.
3 Let not mercy and truth leave thee, put them about thy neck, and write them in the tables of thy heart:
4 And thou shalt find grace and good understanding before God and men.
5 Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence.
6 In all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps.
7 Be not wise in thy own conceit: fear God, and depart from evil:
8 For it shall be health to thy navel, and moistening to thy bones.
9 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and give him of the first of all thy fruits:
10 And thy barns shall be filled with abundance, and thy presses shall run over with wine.
11 My son, reject not the correction of the Lord: and do not faint when thou art chastised by him:
12 For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth: and as a father in the son he pleaseth himself.
13 Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom and is rich in prudence:
14 The purchasing thereof is better than the merchandise of silver, and her fruit than the chiefest and purest gold:
15 She is more precious than all riches: and all the things that are desired, are not to be compared with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and glory.
17 Her ways are beautiful ways, and all her paths are peaceable.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her: and he that shall retain her is blessed.
19 The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, hath established the heavens by prudence.
20 By his wisdom the depths have broken out, and the clouds grow thick with dew.
21 My son, let not these things depart from thy eyes: keep the law and counsel:
22 And there shall be life to thy soul, and grace to thy mouth.
23 Then shalt thou walk confidently in thy way, and thy foot shall not stumble:
24 If thou sleep, thou shalt not fear: thou shalt rest, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor of the power of the wicked falling upon thee.
26 For the Lord will be at thy side, and will keep thy foot that thou be not taken.
27 Do not withhold him from doing good, who is able: if thou art able, do good thyself also.
28 Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again: and to morrow I will give to thee: when thou canst give at present.
29 Practise not evil against thy friend, when he hath confidence in thee.
30 Strive not against a man without cause, when he hath done thee no evil.
31 Envy not the unjust man, and do not follow his ways:
32 For every mocker is an abomination to the Lord, and his communication is with the simple.
33 Want is from the Lord in the house of the wicked: but the habitations of the just shall be blessed.
34 He shall scorn the scorners, and to the meek he will give grace.
35 The wise shall possess glory: the promotion of fools is disgrace.
4 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend that you may know prudence.
2 I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law.
3 For I also was my father's son, tender and as an only son in the sight of my mother:
4 And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.
5 Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee.
7 The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence.
8 Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.
9 She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown.
10 Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee.
11 I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity:
12 Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock.
13 Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life.
14 Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee.
15 Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.
16 For they sleep not except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.
18 But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.
20 My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart:
22 For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh.
23 With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.
24 Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee.
25 Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps.
26 Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established.
27 Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will make thy courses straight, he will bring forward thy ways in peace.
5 My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.
2 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
3 For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.
6 They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
7 Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
9 Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man's house,
11 And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:
12 Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
13 And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
14 I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
16 Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
17 Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
18 Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
19 Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; he thou delighted continually with her love.
20 Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
21 The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
22 His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
23 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
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