Proverbs Chapter 5

An exhortation to fly unlawful lust, and the occasions of it.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 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 at 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: be 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.

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 Fili mi, attende ad sapientiam meam,
et prudentiæ meæ inclina aurem tuam:
2 ut custodias cogitationes, et disciplinam labia tua conservent.
Ne attendas fallaciæ mulieris;
3 favus enim distillans labia meretricis,
et nitidius oleo guttur ejus:
4 novissima autem illius amara quasi absinthium,
et acuta quasi gladius biceps.
5 Pedes ejus descendunt in mortem,
et ad inferos gressus illius penetrant.
6 Per semitam vitæ non ambulant;
vagi sunt gressus ejus et investigabiles.
7 Nunc ergo fili mi, audi me,
et ne recedas a verbis oris mei.
8 Longe fac ab ea viam tuam,
et ne appropinques foribus domus ejus.
9 Ne des alienis honorem tuum,
et annos tuos crudeli:
10 ne forte implentur extranei viribus tuis,
et labores tui sint in domo aliena,
11 et gemas in novissimis,
quando consumpseris carnes tuas et corpus tuum,
et dicas:
12 Cur detestatus sum disciplinam,
et increpationibus non acquievit cor meum,
13 nec audivi vocem docentium me,
et magistris non inclinavi aurem meam?
14 pene fui in omni malo,
in medio ecclesiæ et synagogæ.
15 Bibe aquam de cisterna tua,
et fluenta putei tui;
16 deriventur fontes tui foras,
et in plateis aquas tuas divide.
17 Habeto eas solus,
nec sint alieni participes tui.
18 Sit vena tua benedicta,
et lætare cum muliere adolescentiæ tuæ.
19 Cerva carissima, et gratissimus hinnulus:
ubera ejus inebrient te in omni tempore;
in amore ejus delectare jugiter.
20 Quare seduceris, fili mi, ab aliena,
et foveris in sinu alterius?
21 Respicit Dominus vias hominis,
et omnes gressus ejus considerat.
22 Iniquitates suas capiunt impium,
et funibus peccatorum suorum constringitur.
23 Ipse morietur, quia non habuit disciplinam,
et in multitudine stultitiæ suæ decipietur.

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