Sirach 38

1 Honor a physician with the honor due for his service, for the Lord created him. 2 Healing comes from the Most High, and the physician will receive a gift from the king. 3 A physician’s knowledge will lift up his head, and he will be admired before the great. 4 The Lord created medicines from the earth, and a discerning man will not reject them. 5 Was not water made sweet by wood so that its power might be known? 6 He gave people knowledge so that he might be glorified through his marvelous works. 7 With these he heals and takes away pain, and with these the perfumer makes a compound. 8 His works will never come to an end, and from him peace spreads over the face of the earth. 9 My child, do not be negligent when you are sick. Pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. 10 Turn away from wrongdoing, set your hands straight, and cleanse your heart from every sin. 11 Offer a sweet fragrance, a memorial of fine flour, and a rich offering as though you were about to depart. 12 Then make room for the physician, for the Lord created him. Do not let him leave you, because you need him. 13 There are times when success rests in physicians’ hands. 14 They too will pray to the Lord to grant them success in bringing relief and healing that prolongs life. 15 May whoever sins before his Maker fall into a physician’s hands.

16 My child, shed tears for the dead and begin a lament as though you yourself had suffered terribly. Wrap the body according to custom, and do not neglect the burial. 17 Weep bitterly and mourn fervently. Observe mourning as the person deserves for a day or two, so that no one speaks against you, and then be comforted in your grief. 18 Grief can lead to death, and sorrow of heart bends one’s strength. 19 Sorrow remains during affliction, and a poor person’s life weighs on the heart. 20 Do not give your heart over to sorrow. Drive it away by remembering the end. 21 Do not forget: there is no return. You will not benefit the dead person, but you will harm yourself. 22 Remember my sentence, for yours will be the same: yesterday it was me, today it is you. 23 When the dead person is at rest, let his memory rest. Be comforted for him when his spirit departs.

24 A scribe’s wisdom comes through the opportunity for leisure, and someone with fewer duties can become wise. 25 How can someone become wise while holding a plow and boasting in the shaft of a cattle prod, driving oxen, working among them, and talking only about young bulls? 26 He sets his heart on cutting furrows and stays awake to feed the heifers.

27 So it is with every carpenter and master craftsman who works night as though it were day, with those who engrave seals and patiently vary the design. They set their hearts on making the likeness exact and stay awake to finish the work. 28 So it is with the smith sitting near the anvil and studying the ironwork. The fire’s vapor melts his flesh, and he struggles in the furnace heat. He bends his ear to the hammer’s sound, keeps his eyes on the model of the vessel, sets his heart on completing the work, and stays awake to finish its decoration.

29 So it is with the potter sitting at his work and turning the wheel with his feet. He is always concerned with his work, and every piece he makes is counted. 30 He shapes the clay with his arm and bends his strength before his feet. He sets his heart on finishing the glaze and stays awake to clean the kiln.

31 All these people trust in their hands, and each is wise in his own work. 32 Without them no city can be inhabited, and people could neither settle nor travel there. 33 Yet they are not sought for the people’s council or given a high place in the assembly. They do not sit on the judge’s seat or understand the covenant of judgment. 34 They cannot set out instruction and judgment and are not found among proverbs, but they sustain the created order, and their prayer concerns the work of their craft.