---
title: "Proverbs 3 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/proverbs/3/
description: "An exhortation to the practice of virtue. Proverbs 3 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Proverbs 3

Proverbs 3 is chapter 3 of 31 in the Book of Proverbs. Here are all 35 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> An exhortation to the practice of virtue.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Proverbs 3 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart guard my precepts.
2. For they shall set before you length of days, and years of life, and peace.
3. Let not mercy and truth abandon you: encircle them around your throat, and inscribe them on the tablets of your heart.
4. And so shall you discover grace and good discipline, in the sight of God and men.
5. Have confidence in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend upon your own prudence.
6. In all your ways, consider him, and he himself will direct your steps.
7. Do not seem wise to yourself. Fear God, and withdraw from evil.
8. Certainly, it shall be health to your navel, and refreshment to your bones.
9. Honor the Lord with your substance, and give to him from the first of all your fruits,
10. and then your storehouses will be filled with abundance, and your presses shall overflow with wine.
11. My son, do not discard the discipline of the Lord, and do not fall away when you are corrected by him.
12. For whomever the Lord loves, he corrects, and just as a father does with a son, he wins him over.
13. Blessed is the man who finds wisdom and who advances to prudence.
14. Her acquisition is better than trading in silver, and her fruit is better than the first and purest gold.
15. She is more precious than all riches, and all that can be desired cannot prevail in comparison to her.
16. Length of days is at her right hand, and at her left hand is wealth and glory.
17. Her ways are beautiful ways, and all her paths are peaceful.
18. She is a tree of life to those who overtake her, and he who shall take hold of her is blessed.
19. The Lord founded the earth on wisdom. He secured the heavens with prudence.
20. By his wisdom, the abyss erupted and the clouds increased with dew.
21. My son, let not these things move away from your eyes. Preserve law as well as counsel.
22. And so shall there be life in your soul and grace in your voice.
23. Then you shall walk confidently in your way, and your feet will not stumble.
24. When you slumber, you shall not fear. When you rest, your sleep also will be sweet.
25. Do not fear unexpected terror, nor the power of the impious falling upon you.
26. For the Lord will be at your side, and he will guard your feet, so that you may not be seized.
27. Do not prevent him who is able from doing good. When you are able, do good yourself too.
28. Do not say to your friend: “Go away, and then return. Tomorrow I will give to you.” When you are able to do so, give in the present.
29. Do not undertake evil against your friend, even though he has trust in you.
30. Do not contend against a man without cause, even though he has done no evil to you.
31. Do not rival an unjust man, and do not imitate his ways.
32. For everyone who ridicules is an abomination to the Lord, and his communication is for the simple.
33. Destitution in the house of the impious is from the Lord. But the habitations of the just shall be blessed.
34. He will ridicule those who ridicule, but he will bestow grace upon the mild.
35. The wise will possess glory. The exaltation of the foolish is disgraceful.

## Proverbs 3 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Fili mi, ne obliviscaris legis meæ, et præcepta mea cor tuum custodiat:
2. longitudinem enim dierum, et annos vitæ, et pacem, apponent tibi.
3. Misericordia et veritas te non deserant; circumda eas gutturi tuo, et describe in tabulis cordis tui:
4. et invenies gratiam, et disciplinam bonam, coram Deo et hominibus.
5. Habe fiduciam in Domino ex toto corde tuo, et ne innitaris prudentiæ tuæ.
6. In omnibus viis tuis cogita illum, et ipse diriget gressus tuos.
7. Ne sis sapiens apud temetipsum; time Deum, et recede a malo:
8. sanitas quippe erit umbilico tuo, et irrigatio ossium tuorum.
9. Honora Dominum de tua substantia, et de primitiis omnium frugum tuarum da ei:
10. et implebuntur horrea tua saturitate, et vino torcularia tua redundabunt.
11. Disciplinam Domini, fili mi, ne abjicias, nec deficias cum ab eo corriperis:
12. quem enim diligit Dominus, corripit, et quasi pater in filio complacet sibi.
13. Beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam, et qui affluit prudentia.
14. Melior est acquisitio ejus negotiatione argenti, et auri primi et purissimi fructus ejus.
15. Pretiosior est cunctis opibus, et omnia quæ desiderantur huic non valent comparari.
16. Longitudo dierum in dextera ejus, et in sinistra illius divitiæ et gloria.
17. Viæ ejus viæ pulchræ, et omnes semitæ illius pacificæ.
18. Lignum vitæ est his qui apprehenderint eam, et qui tenuerit eam beatus.
19. Dominus sapientia fundavit terram; stabilivit cælos prudentia.
20. Sapientia illius eruperunt abyssi, et nubes rore concrescunt.
21. Fili mi, ne effluant hæc ab oculis tuis. Custodi legem atque consilium,
22. et erit vita animæ tuæ, et gratia faucibus tuis.
23. Tunc ambulabis fiducialiter in via tua, et pes tuus non impinget.
24. Si dormieris, non timebis; quiesces, et suavis erit somnus tuus.
25. Ne paveas repentino terrore, et irruentes tibi potentias impiorum.
26. Dominus enim erit in latere tuo, et custodiet pedem tuum, ne capiaris.
27. Noli prohibere benefacere eum qui potest: si vales, et ipse benefac.
28. Ne dicas amico tuo: Vade, et revertere: cras dabo tibi: cum statim possis dare.
29. Ne moliaris amico tuo malum, cum ille in te habeat fiduciam.
30. Ne contendas adversus hominem frustra, cum ipse tibi nihil mali fecerit.
31. Ne æmuleris hominem injustum, nec imiteris vias ejus:
32. quia abominatio Domini est omnis illusor, et cum simplicibus sermocinatio ejus.
33. Egestas a Domino in domo impii; habitacula autem justorum benedicentur.
34. Ipse deludet illusores, et mansuetis dabit gratiam.
35. Gloriam sapientes possidebunt; stultorum exaltatio ignominia.

## The saints

- “Unfurl the sails, and let God steer us where He will.” — St. Bede the Venerable, popular saying, source unconfirmed (Attributed: verse 5)

## Read at Mass (US)

- Mon, Sep 25, 2028 (computed): Monday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Proverbs 3:27-34

Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).