| 1 ᾠδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν τῷ Σαλωμων ἐὰν μὴ κύριος οἰκοδομήσῃ οἶκον εἰς μάτην ἐκοπίασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες αὐτόν ἐὰν μὴ κύριος φυλάξῃ πόλιν εἰς μάτην ἠγρύπνησεν ὁ φυλάσσων 2 εἰς μάτην ὑμῖν ἐστιν τοῦ ὀρθρίζειν ἐγείρεσθαι μετὰ τὸ καθῆσθαι οἱ ἔσθοντες ἄρτον ὀδύνης ὅταν δῷ τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς αὐτοῦ ὕπνον 3 ἰδοὺ ἡ κληρονομία κυρίου υἱοί ὁ μισθὸς τοῦ καρποῦ τῆς γαστρός 4 ὡσεὶ βέλη ἐν χειρὶ δυνατοῦ οὕτως οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἐκτετιναγμένων 5 μακάριος ἄνθρωπος ὃς πληρώσει τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐ καταισχυνθήσονται ὅταν λαλῶσι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς αὐτῶν ἐν πύλῃ |
1 Vain is the builder’s toil, if the house is not of the Lord’s building; vainly the guard keeps watch, if the city has not the Lord for its guardian. 2 Vain, that you should be astir before daybreak, and sit on over your tasks late into the night, you whose bread is so hardly won; is it not in the hours of sleep that he blesses the men he loves?[1] 3 Fatherhood itself is the Lord’s gift, the fruitful womb is a reward that comes from him. 4 Crown of thy youth, children are like arrows in a warrior’s hand. 5 Happy, whose quiver is well filled with these; their cause will not be set aside when they plead against their enemies at the gate. |
1 Nisi Dominus ædificaverit domum,
in vanum laboraverunt qui ædificant eam.
Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem,
frustra vigilat qui custodit eam. 2
Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere:
surgite postquam sederitis,
qui manducatis panem doloris.
Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum, 3
ecce hæreditas Domini, filii;
merces, fructus ventris. 4
Sicut sagittæ in manu potentis,
ita filii excussorum. 5
Beatus vir qui implevit desiderium suum ex ipsis:
non confundetur cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta. |