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Proverbs 5

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1 υἱέ ἐμῇ σοφίᾳ πρόσεχε ἐμοῖς δὲ λόγοις παράβαλλε σὸν οὖς 2 ἵνα φυλάξῃς ἔννοιαν ἀγαθήν αἴσθησιν δὲ ἐμῶν χειλέων ἐντέλλομαί σοι 3 μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί μέλι γὰρ ἀποστάζει ἀπὸ χειλέων γυναικὸς πόρνης ἣ πρὸς καιρὸν λιπαίνει σὸν φάρυγγα 4 ὕστερον μέντοι πικρότερον χολῆς εὑρήσεις καὶ ἠκονημένον μᾶλλον μαχαίρας διστόμου 5 τῆς γὰρ ἀφροσύνης οἱ πόδες κατάγουσιν τοὺς χρωμένους αὐτῇ μετὰ θανάτου εἰς τὸν ᾅδην τὰ δὲ ἴχνη αὐτῆς οὐκ ἐρείδεται 6 ὁδοὺς γὰρ ζωῆς οὐκ ἐπέρχεται σφαλεραὶ δὲ αἱ τροχιαὶ αὐτῆς καὶ οὐκ εὔγνωστοι 7 νῦν οὖν υἱέ ἄκουέ μου καὶ μὴ ἀκύρους ποιήσῃς ἐμοὺς λόγους 8 μακρὰν ποίησον ἀ{P'} αὐτῆς σὴν ὁδόν μὴ ἐγγίσῃς πρὸς θύραις οἴκων αὐτῆς 9 ἵνα μὴ πρόῃ ἄλλοις ζωήν σου καὶ σὸν βίον ἀνελεήμοσιν

1 My son, here is good advice for thy heeding; listen to wise counsel, 2 if thou wouldst be circumspect, if thou wouldst have ever on thy lips the maxims of prudence. First, give no credence to the wiles of woman; 3 honey-sweet words the temptress[1] may use, all her talk be soothing as oil, 4 but oh, the dregs of that cup are bitter; a two-edged sword brings no sharper pang. 5 Death’s road she follows, her feet set towards the grave; 6 far from the highway that leads to life is the maze she treads. 7 Heed, then, my warning, and depart from it never; 8 shun her company, do not go near her doors. 9 Wouldst thou squander the pride of thy manhood upon heartless strangers like these?

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 ἵνα μὴ πλησθῶσιν ἀλλότριοι σῆς ἰσχύος οἱ δὲ σοὶ πόνοι εἰς οἴκους ἀλλοτρίων εἰσέλθωσιν 11 καὶ μεταμεληθήσῃ ἐ{P'} ἐσχάτων ἡνίκα ἂν κατατριβῶσιν σάρκες σώματός σου 12 καὶ ἐρεῖς πῶς ἐμίσησα παιδείαν καὶ ἐλέγχους ἐξέκλινεν ἡ καρδία μου 13 οὐκ ἤκουον φωνὴν παιδεύοντός με καὶ διδάσκοντός με οὐδὲ παρέβαλλον τὸ οὖς μου 14 πα{R'} ὀλίγον ἐγενόμην ἐν παντὶ κακῷ ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας καὶ συναγωγῆς

10 If thus thou wilt spend all thy hopes, bestow all thy pains, upon an alien home that is no home of thine, 11 a time will come at last when health and strength shall be wasted away. Then thou wilt complain bitterly, 12 Alas, why did I spurn every precept, reject every warning, 13 unheard, unheeded, every lesson I was taught? 14 No marvel, had I paid the last penalty, with the assembled people for my judges![2]

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 πῖνε ὕδατα ἀπὸ σῶν ἀγγείων καὶ ἀπὸ σῶν φρεάτων πηγῆς 16 μὴ ὑπερεκχείσθω σοι τὰ ὕδατα ἐκ τῆς σῆς πηγῆς εἰς δὲ σὰς πλατείας διαπορευέσθω τὰ σὰ ὕδατα 17 ἔστω σοι μόνῳ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ μηδεὶς ἀλλότριος μετασχέτω σοι 18 ἡ πηγή σου τοῦ ὕδατος ἔστω σοι ἰδία καὶ συνευφραίνου μετὰ γυναικὸς τῆς ἐκ νεότητός σου 19 ἔλαφος φιλίας καὶ πῶλος σῶν χαρίτων ὁμιλείτω σοι ἡ δὲ ἰδία ἡγείσθω σου καὶ συνέστω σοι ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ ἐν γὰρ τῇ ταύτης φιλίᾳ συμπεριφερόμενος πολλοστὸς ἔσῃ 20 μὴ πολὺς ἴσθι πρὸς ἀλλοτρίαν μηδὲ συνέχου ἀγκάλαις τῆς μὴ ἰδίας 21 ἐνώπιον γάρ εἰσιν τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ὀφθαλμῶν ὁδοὶ ἀνδρός εἰς δὲ πάσας τὰς τροχιὰς αὐτοῦ σκοπεύει 22 παρανομίαι ἄνδρα ἀγρεύουσιν σειραῖς δὲ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν ἕκαστος σφίγγεται 23 οὗτος τελευτᾷ μετὰ ἀπαιδεύτων ἐκ δὲ πλήθους τῆς ἑαυτοῦ βιότητος ἐξερρίφη καὶ ἀπώλετο δ{I'} ἀφροσύνην

15 Nay, drink, and drink deep, at thy own well, thy own cistern; 16 thence let thy offspring abound, like waters from thy own fountain flowing through the public streets;[3] 17 only let them be thy own, let there be no commerce between thyself and strangers. 18 A blessing on that fountain of thine! take thy pleasure with the bride thy manhood wins for thee. 19 Thy own bride, gentle as a hind, graceful as a doe; be it her bosom that steals away thy senses with the delight of a lover that loves still. 20 What, my son, wouldst thou yield to the wiles of a stranger, dally with her embraces that is none of thine? 21 The Lord is watching, and knows what a man’s errand is, let him betake himself where he will. 22 The sinner will be ensnared by his own guilt, caught in the toils of his own wrong-doing; 23 doomed by his own incontinence, by his own great folly bemused.

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.

[1] Literally, ‘harlot’, but it would appear from what follows, especially verse 14, that the warning here given is one against adultery, not fornication. It is uncertain, both here and elsewhere in the book, how much the Hebrew term ‘strange woman’ is meant to convey the sense of foreign birth.

[2] Lev. 20.10; cf. Jn. 8.5.

[3] Literally, ‘Let thy fountains be carried out in channels abroad; distribute thy well-water through the streets’; but the phrase evidently refers to a numerous family born in lawful wedlock.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd