Proverbiorum 4
1 Audite filii disciplinam patris, et attendite ut sciatis prudentiam.
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend that you may know prudence.
2 Donum bonum tribuam vobis, legem meam ne derelinquatis.
I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law.
3 Nam et ego filius fui patris mei, tenellus, et unigenitus coram matre mea:
For I also was my father’s son, tender and as an only son in the sight of my mother:
4 et docebat me, atque dicebat: Suscipiat verba mea cor tuum, custodi præcepta mea, et vives.
And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.
5 Posside sapientiam, posside prudentiam: ne obliviscaris, neque declines a verbis oris mei.
Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6 Ne dimittas eam, et custodiet te: dilige eam, et conservabit te.
Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee.
7 Principium sapientiæ, posside sapientiam, et in omni possessione tua acquire prudentiam.
The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence.
8 Arripe illam, et exaltabit te: glorificaberis ab ea, cum eam fueris amplexatus.
Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.
9 Dabit capiti tuo augmenta gratiarum, et corona inclyta proteget te.
She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown.
10 Audi fili mi, et suscipe verba mea, ut multiplicentur tibi anni vitæ.
Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee.
11 Viam sapientiæ monstrabo tibi, ducam te per semitas æquitatis:
I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity:
12 quas cum ingressus fueris, non arctabuntur gressus tui, et currens non habebis offendiculum.
Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock.
13 Tene disciplinam, ne dimittas eam: custodi illam, quia ipsa est vita tua.
Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life.
14 Ne delecteris in semitis impiorum, nec tibi placeat malorum via.
Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee.
15 Fuge ab ea, nec transeas per illam: declina, et desere eam.
Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.
16 Non enim dormiunt nisi malefecerint: et rapitur somnus ab eis nisi supplantaverint.
For they sleep not except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.
17 Comedunt panem impietatis, et vinum iniquitatis bibunt.
They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.
18 Iustorum autem semita quasi lux splendens, procedit et crescit usque ad perfectam diem.
But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day.
19 Via impiorum tenebrosa: nesciunt ubi corruant.
The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.
20 Fili mi, ausculta sermones meos, et ad eloquia mea inclina aurem tuam.
My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings.
21 Ne recedant ab oculis tuis, custodi ea in medio cordis tui:
Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart:
22 vita enim sunt invenientibus ea, et universæ carni sanitas.
For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh.
23 Omni custodia serva cor tuum, quia ex ipso vita procedit.
With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.
24 Remove a te os pravum, et detrahentia labia sint procul a te.
Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee.
25 Oculi tui recta videant, et palpebræ tuæ præcedant gressus tuos.
Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps.
26 Dirige semitam pedibus tuis, et omnes viæ tuæ stabilientur.
Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established.
27 Ne declines ad dexteram, neque ad sinistram: averte pedem tuum a malo. Vias enim, quæ a dextris sunt, novit Dominus: perversæ vero sunt quæ a sinistris sunt. Ipse autem rectos faciet cursus tuos, itinera autem tua in pace producet.
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.
