Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 38

¹ Honour the doctor with the honour that is his due in return for his services; for he too has been created by the Lord.

² Healing itself comes from the Most High, like a gift from a king.

³ The doctor’s learning keeps his head high, he is regarded with awe by potentates.

⁴ The Lord has brought medicines into existence from the earth, and the sensible man will not despise them.

⁵ Did not a piece of wood once sweeten the water, thus giving proof of its virtue?[*a]

⁶ He has also given men learning so that they may glory in his mighty works.

⁷ He uses them[*b] to heal and to relieve pain, the chemist makes up a mixture from them.

⁸ Thus there is no end to his activities, and through him health extends across the world.

⁹ My son, when you are ill, do not be depressed, but pray to the Lord and he will heal you.

¹⁰ Renounce your faults, keep your hands unsoiled, and cleanse your heart from all sin.

¹¹ Offer incense and a memorial of fine flour, and make as rich an offering as you can afford.

¹² Then let the doctor take over-the Lord created him too-and do not let him leave you, for you need him.

¹³ Sometimes success is in their hands,

¹⁴ since they in turn will beseech the Lord to grant them the grace to relieve and to heal, that life may be saved.

¹⁵ If a man sins in the eyes of his Maker, may he fall under the care of the doctor.

¹⁶ My son, shed tears over a dead man, and intone the lament to show your own deep grief; bury his body with due ceremonial, and do not neglect to honour his grave.

¹⁷ Weep bitterly, wail most fervently; observe the mourning the dead man deserves, one day, or two, to avoid comment, and then be comforted in your sorrow;

¹⁸ for grief can lead to death, a grief-stricken heart undermines your strength.

¹⁹ Let grief end with the funeral; a life of grief oppresses the mind.

²⁰ Do not abandon your heart to grief, drive it away, bear your own end in mind.

²¹ Do not forget, there is no going back; you cannot help the dead, and you will harm yourself.

²² ‘Remember my doom, since it will be yours too; yesterday was my day, today is yours.’

²³ Once the dead man is laid to rest, let his memory rest too, do not fret for him, once his spirit departs.

²⁴ Leisure is what gives the scribe the opportunity to acquire wisdom; the man with few business affairs grows wise.

²⁵ How can the ploughman become wise, whose sole ambition is to wield the goad; driving his oxen, engrossed in their work, his conversation is of nothing but cattle?

²⁶ His mind is fixed on the furrows he traces, and his evenings pass in fattening his heifers.

²⁷ So it is with every workman and craftsman, toiling day and night; those who engrave seals, always trying to think of new designs: they set their heart on producing a good likeness, and stay up perfecting the work.

²⁸ So it is with the blacksmith sitting by his anvil; he considers what to do with the pig-iron, the breath of the fire scorches his skin, as he contends with the heat of the furnace; he batters his ear with the din of the hammer, his eyes are fixed on the pattern; he sets his heart on completing his work, and stays up putting the finishing touches.

²⁹ So it is with the potter, sitting at his work, turning the wheel with his feet; constantly on the alert over his work, each flick of the finger premeditated;

³⁰ he pummels the clay with his arm, and puddles it with his feet; he sets his heart on perfecting the glaze, and stays up cleaning the kiln.

³¹ All these put their trust in their hands, and each is skilled at his own craft.

³² A town could not be built without them, there would be no settling, no travelling.

³³ But they are not required at the council, they do not hold high rank in the assembly. They do not sit on the judicial bench, and have no grasp of the law.

³⁴ They are not remarkable for culture or sound judgement, and are not found among the inventors of maxims. But they give solidity to the created world, while their prayer is concerned with what pertains to their trade.