1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Proverbs 1:1 | The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, | Israel. The dignity of the author, and the importance of the subject, invite us to read. (St. Basil) --- Solomon is the first whose name is placed at the head of any work in Scripture. (Calmet) |
| Proverbs 1:2 | To know wisdom, and instruction: | To know. This is the design of these parables. (Calmet) --- They tend to instruct both the unexperienced and the wise, ver. 5. There are three sorts of wisdom: the divine, which is God himself; (chap. 3:16.) the supernatural, which is his gift, to lead us into all virtue; and the worldly, which is mixed with error, etc. (Worthington) (Wisdom 7:25.) |
| Proverbs 1:3 | To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity: | |
| Proverbs 1:4 | To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding. | Subtilty. Discretion to the innocent. (Calmet) |
| Proverbs 1:5 | A wise man shall hear and shall be wiser: and he that understandeth shall possess governments. | Wiser. "Tamdiu audiendum et discendum est, quamdiu nescias, et si proverbio credimus, quamdiu vivas," says Seneca, ep. 77. --- Governments. And be fit to govern others, (Worthington) as well as himself. (Calmet) |
| Proverbs 1:6 | He shall understand a parable, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings. | Sayings. This science was much esteemed, 3 Kings 10:1., and Ecclesiasticus 39:2. |
| Proverbs 1:7 | *The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Psalm 110:10.; Ecclesiasticus 1:16. | Fear. Thus we arrive at charity. (St. Augustine, in ep. Jo. ix.; Job 28:28., etc.) This fear includes religion, but not barren speculations. (Calmet) --- It implies a desire to act, and not simply to understand. |
| Proverbs 1:8 | My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: | Mother. The first precept is to learn of our elders, and the second to resist evil counsels, ver. 10. (Worthington) --- Our parents have the greatest influence over us. Solomon presupposes that they are virtuous and well informed. (Calmet) |
| Proverbs 1:9 | That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck. | |
| Proverbs 1:10 | My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them. | Entice. Hebrew, "deceive." (Calmet) --- Pessimum inimicorum genus laudantes. (Tacitus, in vit. Agric.) |
| Proverbs 1:11 | If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares for the innocent without cause: | |
| Proverbs 1:12 | Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit. | Pit. Grave, or hell, like Dathan, Numbers xvi. This shews the greatest rage, Job 31:31. |
| Proverbs 1:13 | We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoils. | |
| Proverbs 1:14 | Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse. | |
| Proverbs 1:15 | My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their paths. | |
| Proverbs 1:16 | *For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Isaias 59:7. | |
| Proverbs 1:17 | But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings. | Wings. If thou attend, therefore, to my instructions, their arts will be vain. (Ven. Bede) --- They unjustly seek to deceive the pious. (Calmet) --- Watchfulness will be the best protection against them. (Worthington) |
| Proverbs 1:18 | And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise deceits against their own souls. | |
| Proverbs 1:19 | So the ways of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors. | Possessors. Of money. (Calmet) --- While they attempt to invade another's property, they ruin themselves, and come to the gallows. (Haydock) |
| Proverbs 1:20 | Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets: | Streets. In every place we may learn wisdom. "The wise learn more from fools, than fools do from the wise," as Cato well observed. (Calmet) |
| Proverbs 1:21 | At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying: | |
| Proverbs 1:22 | O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge? | Fools. Hebrew, "and scorners delight in their scorning." (Protestants) --- Such are the pests of society. (Haydock) --- They turn piety to ridicule, and will talk about things which they do not understand, like our esprits forts, (Calmet) or pretended philosophers. (Haydock) |
| Proverbs 1:23 | Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words. | |
| Proverbs 1:24 | *Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded. Isaias 65:12.; Isaias 66:4.; Jeremias 7:13. | |
| Proverbs 1:25 | You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions. | |
| Proverbs 1:26 | I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared. | Mock. God is too much above us to act thus; but he will treat us as an enraged enemy. (Calmet) --- In hell, the damned will cry in vain, ver. 28. They had sufficient graces offered while they were alive. (Worthington) |
| Proverbs 1:27 | When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you: | |
| Proverbs 1:28 | Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning, and shall not find me: | Find me. Because their repentance was false, like that of Antiochus, 2 Machabees 9:13., and Psalm 11:4. (Calmet) |
| Proverbs 1:29 | Because they have hated instruction, and received not the fear of the Lord, | |
| Proverbs 1:30 | Nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof. | Despised. Literally, "detracted," (Haydock) supposing my threats would not be put in execution. Hebrew, "they abhorred." (Calmet) |
| Proverbs 1:31 | Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices. | |
| Proverbs 1:32 | The turning away of little ones shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. | Turning. Hebrew, "the ease of the simple," who have given way to deceit. (Calmet) --- Them. The objects of their eager desires, prove their ruin, Ezechiel 16:49. |
| Proverbs 1:33 | But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils. | Evils. Both the just and the wicked, (ver. 31.; Haydock) shall be treated according to their deserts, 2 Corinthians 5:10. (Worthington) --- Even in this world, the just enjoy the peace of a good conscience. (Menochius) |