Wisdom of Sirach 38
1Honor a physician with the honor due to him for the uses which you may have of him: for the Lord has created him.
2For of the most High comes healing, and he shall receive honor of the king.
3The skill of the physician shall lift up his head: and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration.
4The Lord has created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor them.
5Was not the water made sweet with wood, that the virtue thereof might be known?
6And he has given men skill, that he might be honored in his marvelous works.
7With such does he heal men, and takes away their pains.
8Of such does the apothecary make a confection; and of his works there is no end; and from him is peace over all the earth,
9My son, in your sickness be not negligent: but pray to the Lord, and he will make you whole.
10Leave off from sin, and order your hands aright, and cleanse your heart from all wickedness.
11Give a sweet savor, and a memorial of fine flour; and make a fat offering, as not being.
12Then give place to the physician, for the Lord has created him: let him not go from you, for you have need of him.
13There is a time when in their hands there is good success.
14For they shall also pray to the Lord, that he would prosper that, which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life.
15He that sins before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician.
16My son, let tears fall down over the dead, and begin to lament, as if you had suffered great harm yourself; and then cover his body according to the custom, and neglect not his burial.
17Weep bitterly, and make great moan, and use lamentation, as he is worthy, and that a day or two, lest you be evil spoken of: and then comfort yourself for your heaviness.
18For of heaviness comes death, and the heaviness of the heart breaks strength.
19In affliction also sorrow remains: and the life of the poor is the curse of the heart.
20Take no heaviness to heart: drive it away, and member the last end.
21Forget it not, for there is no turning again: you shall not do him good, but hurt yourself.
22Remember my judgment: for your also shall be so; yesterday for me, and to day for you.
23When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest; and be comforted for him, when his Spirit is departed from him.
24The wisdom of a learned man comes by opportunity of leisure: and he that has little business shall become wise.
25How can he get wisdom that holds the plow, and that glories in the goad, that drives oxen, and is occupied in their labors, and whose talk is of bullocks?
26He gives his mind to make furrows; and is diligent to give the kine fodder.
27So every carpenter and workmaster, that labores night and day: and they that cut and grave seals, and are diligent to make great variety, and give themselves to counterfeit imagery, and watch to finish a work:
28The smith also sitting by the anvil, and considering the iron work, the vapor of the fire wastes his flesh, and he fights with the heat of the furnace: the noise of the hammer and the anvil is ever in his ears, and his eyes look still upon the pattern of the thing that he makes; he sets his mind to finish his work, and watches to polish it perfectly:
29So does the potter sitting at his work, and turning the wheel about with his feet, who is always carefully set at his work, and makes all his work by number;
30He fashions the clay with his arm, and bows down his strength before his feet; he applies himself to lead it over; and he is diligent to make clean the furnace:
31All these trust to their hands: and every one is wise in his work.
32Without these can't a city be inhabited: and they shall not dwell where they will, nor go up and down:
33They shall not be sought for in publick counsel, nor sit high in the congregation: they shall not sit on the judges' seat, nor understand the sentence of judgment: they can't declare justice and judgment; and they shall not be found where parables are spoken.
34But they will maintain the state of the world, and all their desire is in the work of their craft.
Commentaries for Wisdom of Sirach 38:0