Proverbs Chapter 8

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 Doth not wisdom cry aloud, and prudence put forth her voice?
2 Standing in the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst of the paths,
3 Beside the gates of the city, in the very doors she speaketh, saying:
4 O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O little ones understand subtlety, and ye unwise, take notice.
6 Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things.
7 My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness.
8 All my words are just, there is nothing wicked, nor perverse in them.
9 They are right to them that understand, and just to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold.
11 For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.

12 I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and am present in learned thoughts.
13 The fear of the Lord hateth evil; I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.
14 Counsel and equity is mine, prudence is mine, strength is mine.
15 By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things.
16 By me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice.
17 I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me.
18 With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice.
19 For my fruit is better than gold and the precious stone, and my blossoms than choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment,
21 That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their treasures.

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.
23 I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was made.
24 The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out.
25 The mountains, with their huge bulk, had not as yet been established: before the hills, I was brought forth:
26 He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law, and compass, he enclosed the depths:
28 When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters:
29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth;
30 I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times;
31 Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.
32 Now, therefore, ye children, hear me: blessed are they that keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.
35 He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.
36 But he that shall sin against me shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death.

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 Numquid non sapientia clamitat,
et prudentia dat vocem suam?
2 In summis excelsisque verticibus supra viam,
in mediis semitis stans,
3 juxta portas civitatis,
in ipsis foribus loquitur, dicens:
4 O viri, ad vos clamito,
et vox mea ad filios hominum.
5 Intelligite, parvuli, astutiam,
et insipientes, animadvertite.
6 Audite, quoniam de rebus magnis locutura sum,
et aperientur labia mea ut recta prædicent.
7 Veritatem meditabitur guttur meum,
et labia mea detestabuntur impium.
8 Justi sunt omnes sermones mei:
non est in eis pravum quid, neque perversum;
9 recti sunt intelligentibus,
et æqui invenientibus scientiam.
10 Accipite disciplinam meam, et non pecuniam;
doctrinam magis quam aurum eligite:
11 melior est enim sapientia cunctis pretiosissimis,
et omne desiderabile ei non potest comparari.

12 Ego sapientia, habito in consilio,
et eruditis intersum cogitationibus.
13 Timor Domini odit malum:
arrogantiam, et superbiam,
et viam pravam, et os bilingue, detestor.
14 Meum est consilium et æquitas;
mea est prudentia, mea est fortitudo.
15 Per me reges regnant,
et legum conditores justa decernunt;
16 per me principes imperant,
et potentes decernunt justitiam.
17 Ego diligentes me diligo,
et qui mane vigilant ad me, invenient me.
18 Mecum sunt divitiæ et gloria,
opes superbæ et justitia.
19 Melior est enim fructus meus auro et lapide pretioso,
et genimina me argento electo.
20 In viis justitiæ ambulo,
in medio semitarum judicii:
21 ut ditem diligentes me,
et thesauros eorum repleam.

22 Dominus possedit me in initio viarum suarum
antequam quidquam faceret a principio.
23 Ab æterno ordinata sum,
et ex antiquis antequam terra fieret.
24 Nondum erant abyssi, et ego jam concepta eram:
necdum fontes aquarum eruperant,
25 necdum montes gravi mole constiterant:
ante colles ego parturiebar.
26 Adhuc terram non fecerat, et flumina,
et cardines orbis terræ.
27 Quando præparabat cælos, aderam;
quando certa lege et gyro vallabat abyssos;
28 quando æthera firmabat sursum,
et librabat fontes aquarum;
29 quando circumdabat mari terminum suum,
et legem ponebat aquis, ne transirent fines suos;
quando appendebat fundamenta terræ:
30 cum eo eram, cuncta componens.
Et delectabar per singulos dies,
ludens coram eo omni tempore,
31 ludens in orbe terrarum;
et deliciæ meæ esse cum filiis hominum.
32 Nunc ergo, filii, audite me:
beati qui custodiunt vias meas.
33 Audite disciplinam, et estote sapientes,
et nolite abjicere eam.
34 Beatus homo qui audit me,
et qui vigilat ad fores meas quotidie,
et observat ad postes ostii mei.
35 Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam,
et hauriet salutem a Domino.
36 Qui autem in me peccaverit, lædet animam suam;
omnes qui me oderunt diligunt mortem.

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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