The Book of Proverbs — Liber Proverbiorum
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Chapter 7
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Douay-Rheims><Vulgate><Knox Bible
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My son, keep my words, and lay up my precepts with thee. Son,
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Fili mi, custodi sermones meos, et præcepta mea reconde tibi. Fili,
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My son, do not forget these warnings; let this charge of mine be an heirloom,
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Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live: and my law as the apple of thy eye:
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serva mandata mea, et vives; et legem meam quasi pupillam oculi tui:
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kept jealously, as thou lovest thy own life; precious to thee as the apple of thy eye be the teaching I give thee.
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Bind it upon thy fingers, write it upon the tables of thy heart.
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liga eam in digitis tuis, scribe illam in tabulis cordis tui.
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Bind it fast about thy fingers, write it, as upon a tablet, on thy heart;
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Say to wisdom: Thou art my sister: and call prudence thy friend,
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Dic sapientiæ: Soror mea es, et prudentiam voca amicam tuam:
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give to wisdom a sister’s welcome, and hail discernment as thy friend.
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That she may keep thee from the woman that is not thine, and from the stranger who sweeteneth her words.
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ut custodiant te a muliere extranea, et ab aliena quæ verba sua dulcia facit.
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So wilt thou learn to shun the temptress with her honeyed words, the wife that is no wife of thine.
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For I look out of the window of my house through the lattice,
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De fenestra enim domus meæ per cancellos prospexi,
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Ere now, looking down from my window through the lattice,
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And I see little ones, I behold a foolish young man,
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et video parvulos; considero vecordem juvenem,
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I have watched the thoughtless crowd, and seen some gallant, more insensate than the rest,
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Who passeth through the street by the corner, and goeth nigh the way of her house.
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qui transit per plateam juxta angulum et prope viam domus illius graditur:
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crossing the street at the corner where such a woman dwells. Now his steps are taking him near that abode of hers;
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In the dark, when it grows late, in the darkness and obscurity of the night,
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in obscuro, advesperascente die, in noctis tenebris et caligine.
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the day wanes, and the light fades; night spreads her pall of darkness.
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And behold a woman meeteth him in harlot’s attire prepared to deceive souls; talkative and wandering,
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Et ecce occurrit illi mulier ornatu meretricio, præparata ad capiendas animas: garrula et vaga,
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Who comes to meet him? A woman in right harlot’s guise, that goes out, ready of speech, to hunt men’s lives.
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Not bearing to be quiet, not able to abide still at home,
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quietis impatiens, nec valens in domo consistere pedibus suis;
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No rest for her, stay at home she cannot;
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Now abroad, now in the streets, now lying in wait near the corners.
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nunc foris, nunc in plateis, nunc juxta angulos insidians.
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ever in street and market-place she lies in ambush, at some corner of the ways.
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And catching the young man, she kisseth him, and with an impudent face, flattereth, saying:
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Apprehensumque deosculatur juvenem, et procaci vultu blanditur, dicens:
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She draws him to herself and kisses him, flattering him with her bold speech:
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I vowed victims for prosperity, this day I have paid my vows.
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Victimas pro salute vovi; hodie reddidi vota mea:
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Only to-day I have paid a vow that I owed for my preservation, and here are my victims freshly killed;
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Therefore I am come out to meet thee, desirous to see thee, and I have found thee.
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idcirco egressa sum in occursum tuum, desiderans te videre, et reperi.
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so I came out to find thee, longing for the sight of thee, and here thou art!
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I have woven my bed with cords, I have covered it with painted tapestry, brought from Egypt.
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Intexui funibus lectulum meum; stravi tapetibus pictis ex Ægypto:
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Soft, soft I have made my bed, spread it with embroidered tapestries of Egyptian woof;
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I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
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aspersi cubile meum myrrha, et aloë, et cinnamomo.
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freshly scented is that bower of mine with myrrh, and aloes, and cinnamon.
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Come, let us be inebriated with the breasts, and let us enjoy the desired embraces, till the day appear.
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Veni, inebriemur uberibus, et fruamur cupitis amplexibus donec illucescat dies.
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Come, let us lose ourselves in dalliance, all the night through let us enjoy the long-desired embrace.
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For my husband is not at home, he is gone a very long journey.
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Non est enim vir in domo sua: abiit via longissima:
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My home stands masterless, my husband far away,
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He took with him a bag of money: he will return home the day of the full moon.
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sacculum pecuniæ secum tulit; in die plenæ lunæ reversurus est in domum suam.
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and his purse with him; no fear of his returning till the moon is full.
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She entangled him with many words, and drew him away with the flattery of her lips.
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Irretivit eum multis sermonibus, et blanditiis labiorum protraxit illum.
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Alas, the ready speech that beguiles him, the seducing lips that lead him captive away!
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Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and as a lamb playing the wanton, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds,
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Statim eam sequitur quasi bos ductus ad victimam, et quasi agnus lasciviens, et ignorans quod ad vincula stultus trahatur:
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He follows without more ado, unwitting as the ox that goes to the shambles, or a frisking lamb; nor knows what fetters await him,
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Till the arrow pierce his liver: as if a bird should make haste to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger.
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donec transfigat sagitta jecur ejus, velut si avis festinet ad laqueum, et nescit quod de periculo animæ illius agitur.
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till the shaft is already deep in his bosom. So joyfully flies bird into snare, heedless of its life’s peril.
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Now therefore, my son, hear me, and attend to the words of my mouth.
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Nunc ergo, fili mi, audi me, et attende verbis oris mei.
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Heed me well, my son; let not this warning be given in vain;
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Let not thy mind be drawn away in her ways: neither be thou deceived with her paths.
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Ne abstrahatur in viis illius mens tua, neque decipiaris semitis ejus;
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do not let her steal thy heart away, do not be enticed by her beckoning.
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For she hath cast down many wounded, and the strongest have been slain by her.
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multos enim vulneratos dejecit, et fortissimi quique interfecti sunt ab ea.
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Many the wounds such a woman has dealt; a brave retinue she has of men murdered;
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Her house is the way to hell, reaching even to the inner chambers of death.
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Viæ inferi domus ejus, penetrantes in interiora mortis.
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truly her house is the grave’s ante-chamber, opens the door into the secret closet of death.