Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend, that you may know prudence.
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Listen, children, to a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight;
2 I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law.
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for I give you good precepts: do not forsake my teaching.
3 For I also was my father’s son, tender, and as an only son in the sight of my mother:
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When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother's favorite,
4 And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.
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he taught me, and said to me, "Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.
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Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee.
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Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.
7 The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence.
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The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight.
8 Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.
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Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown.
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She will place on your head a fair garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown."
10 Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee.
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Hear, my child, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.
11 I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity:
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I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
12 Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock.
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When you walk, your step will not be hampered; and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life.
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Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.
14 Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee.
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Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.
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Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.
16 For they sleep not, except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.
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For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.
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For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards, and increaseth even to perfect day.
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But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
19 The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.
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The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what they stumble over.
20 My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings.
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My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart:
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Do not let them escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh.
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For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.
23 With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.
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Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee.
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Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.
25 Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps.
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Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established.
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Keep straight the path of your feet, and all your ways will be sure.
27 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.
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Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.