Bible / Proverbs
Proverbs 8
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation
1 Doth not wisdom cry aloud, and prudence put forth her voice?
2 Standing in the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst of the paths,
3 Beside the gates of the city, in the very doors she speaketh, saying:
4 O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O little ones understand subtlety, and ye unwise, take notice.
6 Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things.
7 My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness.
8 All my words are just, there is nothing wicked, nor perverse in them.
9 They are right to them that understand, and just to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold.
11 For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.
12 I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and am present in learned thoughts.
13 The fear of the Lord hateth evil; I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.
14 Counsel and equity is mine, prudence is mine, strength is mine.
15 By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things.
16 By me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice.
17 I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me.
18 With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice.
19 For my fruit is better than gold and the precious stone, and my blossoms than choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment,
21 That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their treasures.
22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.
23 I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was made.
24 The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out.
25 The mountains, with their huge bulk, had not as yet been established: before the hills, I was brought forth:
26 He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law, and compass, he enclosed the depths:
28 When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters:
29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth;
30 I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times;
31 Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.
32 Now, therefore, ye children, hear me: blessed are they that keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.
35 He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.
36 But he that shall sin against me shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death.
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers, so these are listed by chapter.
- Proverbs 8:1 in modern BiblesCCC 721
Read the Catechism
- CCC 721 “Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness…”
- Proverbs 8:7 in modern BiblesCCC 2465
Read the Catechism
- CCC 2465 “The Old Testament attests that God is the source of all truth. His Word is truth. His Law is truth. His "faithfulness…”
- Proverbs 8:15 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“By me chiefs are raised up, and by me kings rule the earth.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Proverbs 8:21 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“But they who sin against me, trespass against their own souls; and they who hate me love death.”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Proverbs 8:22 in modern BiblesCCC 288
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 288 “Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People.…”
“From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He formed the earth, and before He made the depths, and before the springs of waters came forth, before the mountains were settled; He begets me before all the hills.' ”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter CXXIX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“… in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Proverbs 8:23 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Proverbs 8:24 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Proverbs 8:25 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Proverbs 8:27 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“I was He in whom He rejoiced, and throughout all time I was daily glad before His face, when He rejoiced at the completion of the world, and was delighted in the sons of men.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.