Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 38

38:1

Honour a physician according to your need with the honours due to him,

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38:2

For healing comes from the Most High,

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38:3

The skill of the physician will lift up his head.

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38:4

The Lord created medicines out of the earth.

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38:5

Wasn’t water made sweet with wood,

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38:6

He gave men skill

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38:7

With them he heals

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38:8

With these, the pharmacist makes a mixture.

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38:9

My son, in your sickness don’t be negligent,

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38:10

Put away wrong doing, and direct your hands in righteousness.

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38:11

Give a sweet savour and a memorial of fine flour,

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38:12

Then give place to the physician, for truly the Lord has created him.

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38:13

There is a time when recovery is in their hands.

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38:14

For they also shall ask the Lord

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38:15

He who sins before his Maker,

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38:16

My son, let your tears fall over the dead,

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38:17

Make bitter weeping and make passionate wailing.

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38:18

For from sorrow comes death.

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38:19

In calamity, sorrow also remains.

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38:20

Don’t give your heart to sorrow.

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38:21

Don’t forget it, for there is no returning again.

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38:22

Remember his end, for so also will yours be:

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38:23

When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest.

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38:24

The wisdom of the scribe comes by the opportunity of leisure.

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38:25

How could he become wise who holds the plough,

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38:26

He will set his heart upon turning his furrows.

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38:27

So is every craftsman and master artisan

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38:28

So too is the smith sitting by the anvil

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38:29

So is the potter sitting at his work

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38:30

He will fashion the clay with his arm

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38:31

All these put their trust in their hands.

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38:32

Without these no city would be inhabited.

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38:33

They won’t be sought for in the council of the people.

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38:34

But they will maintain the fabric of the age.

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