Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Chapter 38

¹Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him: for the Lord hath created him. ²For of the most High cometh healing, and he shall receive honour 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 hath 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 hath given men skill, that he might be honoured in his marvellous works. ⁷With such doth he heal men , and taketh away their pains. ⁸Of such doth 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 thy sickness be not negligent: but pray unto the Lord, and he will make thee whole. ¹⁰Leave off from sin, and order thine hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all wickedness. ¹¹Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour; and make a fat offering, as not being. ¹²Then give place to the physician, for the Lord hath created him: let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him. ¹³There is a time when in their hands there is good success. ¹⁴For they shall also pray unto the Lord, that he would prosper that, which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life. ¹⁵He that sinneth 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 thou hadst suffered great harm thyself; 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 thou be evil spoken of: and then comfort thyself for thy heaviness. ¹⁸For of heaviness cometh death, and the heaviness of the heart breaketh strength. ¹⁹In affliction also sorrow remaineth: and the life of the poor is the curse of the heart. ²⁰Take no heaviness to heart: drive it away, and remember the last end. ²¹Forget it not, for there is no turning again: thou shalt not do him good, but hurt thyself. ²²Remember my judgment: for thine also shall be so; yesterday for me, and to day for thee. 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 cometh by opportunity of leisure: and he that hath little business shall become wise.

²⁵How can he get wisdom that holdeth the plough, and that glorieth in the goad, that driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labours, and whose talk is of bullocks? ²⁶He giveth his mind to make furrows; and is diligent to give the kine fodder. ²⁷So every carpenter and workmaster, that laboureth 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 vapour of the fire wasteth his flesh, and he fighteth 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 maketh; he setteth his mind to finish his work, and watcheth to polish it perfectly: ²⁹So doth the potter sitting at his work, and turning the wheel about with his feet, who is alway carefully set at his work, and maketh all his work by number; ³⁰He fashioneth the clay with his arm, and boweth down his strength before his feet; he applieth 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 cannot 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 cannot 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.