Concerning Physicians and Health

1Honour physicians for their services,

for the Lord created them;

2for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,

and they are rewarded by the king.

3The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,

and in the presence of the great they are admired.

4The Lord created medicines out of the earth,

and the sensible will not despise them.

5Was not water made sweet with a tree

in order that its38.5 Or his power might be known?

6And he gave skill to human beings

that he38.6 Or they might be glorified in his marvellous works.

7By them the physician38.7 Heb: Gk he heals and takes away pain;

8the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.

God's38.8 Gk His works will never be finished;

and from him health38.8 Or peace spreads over all the earth.

9My child, when you are ill, do not delay,

but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.

10Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,

and cleanse your heart from all sin.

11Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,

and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.38.11 Heb: Lat lacks as much as you can afford; Meaning of Gk uncertain

12Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;

do not let him leave you, for you need him.

13There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,38.13 Gk in their hands

14for they too pray to the Lord

that he will grant them success in diagnosis38.14 Heb: Gk rest

and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.

15He who sins against his Maker

will be defiant towards the physician.38.15 Heb: Gk may he fall into the hands of the physician

On Mourning for the Dead

16My child, let your tears fall for the dead,

and as one in great pain begin the lament.

Lay out the body with due ceremony,

and do not neglect the burial.

17Let your weeping be bitter and your wailing fervent;

make your mourning worthy of the departed,

for one day, or two, to avoid criticism;

then be comforted for your grief.

18For grief may result in death,

and a sorrowful heart saps one's strength.

19When a person is taken away, sorrow is over;

but the life of the poor weighs down the heart.

20Do not give your heart to grief;

drive it away, and remember your own end.

21Do not forget, there is no coming back;

you do the dead38.21 Gk him no good, and you injure yourself.

22Remember his38.22 Heb: Gk my fate, for yours is like it;

yesterday it was his,38.22 Heb: Gk mine and today it is yours.

23When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest too,

and be comforted for him when his spirit has departed.

Trades and Crafts

24The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure;

only the one who has little business can become wise.

25How can one become wise who handles the plough,

and who glories in the shaft of a goad,

who drives oxen and is occupied with their work,

and whose talk is about bulls?

26He sets his heart on ploughing furrows,

and he is careful about fodder for the heifers.

27So it is with every artisan and master artisan

who labours by night as well as by day;

those who cut the signets of seals,

each is diligent in making a great variety;

they set their heart on painting a lifelike image,

and they are careful to finish their work.

28So it is with the smith, sitting by the anvil,

intent on his ironwork;

the breath of the fire melts his flesh,

and he struggles with the heat of the furnace;

the sound of the hammer deafens his ears,38.28 Cn: Gk renews his ear

and his eyes are on the pattern of the object.

He sets his heart on finishing his handiwork,

and he is careful to complete its decoration.

29So it is with the potter sitting at his work

and turning the wheel with his feet;

he is always deeply concerned over his products,

and he produces them in quantity.

30He moulds the clay with his arm

and makes it pliable with his feet;

he sets his heart on finishing the glazing,

and he takes care in firing38.30 Cn: Gk cleaning the kiln.

31All these rely on their hands,

and all are skilful in their own work.

32Without them no city can be inhabited,

and wherever they live, they will not go hungry.38.32 Syr: Gk and people can neither live nor walk there

Yet they are not sought out for the council of the people,38.32 Most ancient authorities lack this line

33nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly.

They do not sit in the judge's seat,

nor do they understand the decisions of the courts;

they cannot expound discipline or judgement,

and they are not found among the rulers.38.33 Cn: Gk among parables

34But they maintain the fabric of the world,

and their concern is for38.34 Syr: Gk prayer is in the exercise of their trade.

The Activity of the Scribe

How different the one who devotes himself

to the study of the law of the Most High!