Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Revised Standard NRS
1 My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,
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My child, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
2 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
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so that you may hold on to prudence, and your lips may guard knowledge.
3 For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
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For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
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but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.
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Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.
6 They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
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She does not keep straight to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
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And now, my child, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
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Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house;
9 Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
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or you will give your honor to others, and your years to the merciless,
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,
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and strangers will take their fill of your wealth, and your labors will go to the house of an alien;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say;
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and at the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
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and you say, "Oh, how I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13 And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
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I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
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Now I am at the point of utter ruin in the public assembly."
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
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Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
16 Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
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Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?
17 Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
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Let them be for yourself alone, and not for sharing with strangers.
18 Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
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Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with her love.
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a lovely deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be intoxicated always by her love.
20 Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
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Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
21 The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
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For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord, and he examines all their paths.
22 His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
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The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them, and they are caught in the toils of their sin.
23 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
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They die for lack of discipline, and because of their great folly they are lost.
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.