Proverbs Chapter 1

English (Douay-Rheims)

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 ways 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 show 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.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Parabolæ Salomonis, filii David, regis Israël,
2 ad sciendam sapientiam et disciplinam;
3 ad intelligenda verba prudentiæ,
et suscipiendam eruditionem doctrinæ,
justitiam, et judicium, et æquitatem:
4 ut detur parvulis astutia,
adolescenti scientia et intellectus.
5 Audiens sapiens, sapientior erit,
et intelligens gubernacula possidebit.
6 Animadvertet parabolam et interpretationem,
verba sapientum et ænigmata eorum.
7 Timor Domini principium sapientiæ;
sapientiam atque doctrinam stulti despiciunt.

8 Audi, fili mi, disciplinam patris tui,
et ne dimittas legem matris tuæ:
9 ut addatur gratia capiti tuo,
et torques collo tuo.
10 Fili mi, si te lactaverint peccatores,
ne acquiescas eis.
11 Si dixerint: Veni nobiscum, insidiemur sanguini;
abscondamus tendiculas contra insontem frustra;
12 deglutiamus eum sicut infernus viventem,
et integrum quasi descendentem in lacum;
13 omnem pretiosam substantiam reperiemus;
implebimus domos nostras spoliis:
14 sortem mitte nobiscum,
marsupium unum sit omnium nostrum:
15 fili mi, ne ambules cum eis;
prohibe pedem tuum a semitis eorum:
16 pedes enim illorum ad malum currunt,
et festinant ut effundant sanguinem.
17 Frustra autem jacitur rete
ante oculos pennatorum.
18 Ipsi quoque contra sanguinem suum insidiantur,
et moliuntur fraudes contra animas suas.
19 Sic semitæ omnis avari:
animas possidentium rapiunt.

20 Sapientia foris prædicat;
in plateis dat vocem suam:
21 in capite turbarum clamitat;
in foribus portarum urbis profert verba sua, dicens:
22 Usquequo, parvuli, diligitis infantiam,
et stulti ea quæ sibi sunt noxia cupient,
et imprudentes odibunt scientiam?
23 convertimini ad correptionem meam.
En proferam vobis spiritum meum,
et ostendam vobis verba mea.
24 Quia vocavi, et renuistis;
extendi manum meam, et non fuit qui aspiceret:
25 despexistis omne consilium meum,
et increpationes meas neglexistis.
26 Ego quoque in interitu vestro ridebo,
et subsannabo cum vobis id quod timebatis advenerit.
27 Cum irruerit repentina calamitas,
et interitus quasi tempestas ingruerit;
quando venerit super vos tribulatio et angustia:
28 tunc invocabunt me, et non exaudiam;
mane consurgent, et non invenient me:
29 eo quod exosam habuerint disciplinam,
et timorem Domini non susceperint,
30 nec acquieverint consilio meo,
et detraxerint universæ correptioni meæ.
31 Comedent igitur fructus viæ suæ,
suisque consiliis saturabuntur.
32 Aversio parvulorum interficiet eos,
et prosperitas stultorum perdet illos.
33 Qui autem me audierit, absque terrore requiescet,
et abundantia perfruetur, timore malorum sublato.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition

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