Sirach 38 — WBMS
38Verse 1Honour thou a leech, for need; for why the Highest hath made [or formed] him.Verse 2For why all medicine is of God [or Of God forsooth is all leeching]; and he shall take of the king a gift.Verse 3The knowing of a leech shall enhance his head; and he shall be praised in the sight of great men.Verse 4The Highest hath made [or formed] of the earth medicine; and a prudent man shall not loathe it.Verse 5Whether bitter water was not made sweet of a tree? The virtue of those things came by experience to the knowing of men;Verse 6and the Highest gave knowing to men, for to be honoured in his marvels.Verse 7A man healing [or curing] in these things, shall assuage sorrow,Verse 8and an ointment-maker shall make pigments of sweetness, and shall make anointings of health; and his works shall not be ended. For why the peace of God is on the face of earth.Verse 9My son, despise not thyself in thy sickness [or infirmity]; but pray thou the Lord, and he shall heal [or cure] thee.Verse 10Turn thou away from sin, and dress thine hands, and cleanse thine heart from all sin.Verse 11Give thou sweetness, and the mind of clean [or tried] flour of wheat, and make thou fat [the] offer-ing;Verse 12and give thou place to a leech. For the Lord made him, and depart he not [or go he not away] from thee; for his works be needful to thee.Verse 13For why time is, when thou shalt fall [or run] into the hands of them.Verse 14Forsooth they shall beseech the Lord, that he dress [or right rule] the work of them, and health for their living.Verse 15He that trespasseth in the sight of him, that made him, shall fall into the hands of the leech.Verse 16Son, bring thou forth tears on a dead man, and thou as suffering hard things begin to weep; and by [or after] doom, cover thou the body of him, and despise thou not his bury-ing.Verse 17But for backbiting, bear thou bitterly the mourning of him for one day; and be thou comforted for sorrow [or take comfort for heaviness]. And make thou mourning after his merit [or deserving]for one day, either twain [or two], for backbiting.Verse 18For why death hasteth of sorrow, and covereth virtue; and the sorrow of heart boweth the head.Verse 19Sorrow dwelleth in leading away; and the chattel [or substance] of a needy man is after his heart.Verse 20Give thou not thine heart in sorrow, but put it away from thee; and have thou mind on the last things,Verse 21and do not thou forget. For why no returning is from death to this present life, and thou shalt nothing profit to this dead man; and thou shalt harm or treat worst thyself.Verse 22Be thou mindful of my doom; for also thine shall be thus, to me yester-day, and to thee today.Verse 23In the rest of a dead man, make thou his mind to have rest; and comfort thou him, in the going out of his spirit.Verse 24Write thou wisdom in the time of voidness; and he that is made less in deeds, shall perceive wisdom; for he shall be filled of [or with] wisdom.Verse 25He that holdeth the plow, and he that hath glory in a goad, driveth oxes [or oxen] with a prick, and he liveth in the works of those [or them]; and his telling is in the sons of bulls.Verse 26He shall give his heart to turn furrows; and his waking shall be about the fatness of kine.Verse 27So each carpenter, and principal workman, that passeth the night as the day; that engraveth images [or brooches] engraved, and the busyness of him diverseth [or varieth] the painture; he shall give his heart [in] to the likeness of painture, and by his waking he performeth the work.Verse 28So a smith sitting beside the anfelt [or stithy], and beholding the work of iron, the heat of fire burneth his fleshes [or flesh]; and he striveth in the heat of the furnace. The voice of a hammer maketh new his ear; and his eye is against the likeness of a vessel. He shall give his heart into the performing of works; and by his waking he shall adorn unperfection, that is, matter which he bringeth to perfection of form.Verse 29So a potter sitting at his work, turning a wheel with his feet, which is put ever[more] in busyness for his work; and all his working is un-numberable [or without number].Verse 30In his arm he shall form clay; and before his feet he shall bow his virtue. He shall give his heart to end perfectly something; and by his waking he shall cleanse the furnace.Verse 31All these men hoped in their hands; and each man is wise in his craft.Verse 32A city is not builded [or built] without all these men. And they shall not dwell [in], neither go [in];Verse 33and they shall not skip over [or over-leap] into the church. They shall not sit on the seat of a judge; and they shall not understand the testament of doom, neither they shall make open teaching and doom; and they shall not be found in parables.Verse 34But they shall confirm the creature of the world, and their prayer is the working of craft;