| 12 λόγοι στόματος σοφοῦ χάρις καὶ χείλη ἄφρονος καταποντιοῦσιν αὐτόν 13 ἀρχὴ λόγων στόματος αὐτοῦ ἀφροσόνη καὶ ἐσχάτη στόματος αὐτοῦ περιφέρεια πονηρά 14 καὶ ὁ ἄφρων πληθύνει λόγους οὐκ ἔγνω ὁ ἄνθρωπος τί τὸ γενόμενον καὶ τί τὸ ἐσόμενον ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ τίς ἀναγγελεῖ αὐτῷ |
12 Wise utterance wins favour; the fool that opens his mouth does but ruin himself, 13 his preface idle talk, his conclusion madness. 14 Of words a fool has no stint …
… What went before, is lost to man’s view, and what shall befall when he is gone, none can tell him.[5] |
12
Verba oris sapientis gratia,
et labia insipientis præcipitabunt eum; 13
initium verborum ejus stultitia,
et novissimum oris illius error pessimus. 14
Stultus verba multiplicat.
Ignorat homo quid ante se fuerit;
et quid post se futurum sit, quis ei poterit indicare? |
| 16 οὐαί σοι πόλις ἧς ὁ βασιλεύς σου νεώτερος καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντές σου ἐν πρωίᾳ ἐσθίουσιν 17 μακαρία σύ γῆ ἧς ὁ βασιλεύς σου υἱὸς ἐλευθέρων καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντές σου πρὸς καιρὸν φάγονται ἐν δυνάμει καὶ οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσονται |
16 Woe to the land that has young blood on the throne, whose court sits feasting till daybreak! 17 And happy the land whose king is of true princely breed, whose courtiers feast when feast should be, to comfort their hearts, not all in revelry. |
16
Væ tibi, terra, cujus rex puer est,
et cujus principes mane comedunt. 17
Beata terra cujus rex nobilis est,
et cujus principes vescuntur in tempore suo,
ad reficiendum, et non ad luxuriam. |
[1] Literally, ‘The wise man’s heart is towards the right, the fool’s towards the left’.
[2] The Latin version obscures the sense of the proverb by adding ‘in sharpening it’—the sense is rather ‘in using it’.
[3] Literally, ‘thy wisdom follows thy striving’. The Hebrew text, which is perhaps corrupt, gives the lame ending, ‘wisdom is a useful guide’.
[4] This seems the best interpretation of the Hebrew text, which runs, literally, ‘The owner of the tongue has no advantage’. Cf. Ps. 57.6. The Latin rendering here, ‘No worse off is he who backbites in secret’, yields no appropriate sense.
[5] It seems probable that there has been some dislocation of the text here. The latter part of the verse is practically a repetition of 8.7.
[6] The exact bearing of this proverb can no longer be identified.
Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd