Sirach · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Sirach 38 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
Sirach is not in RV1909.
1 Honor a physician with the honor due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him: For the Lord hath created him.
·
2 For of the most High cometh healing, And he shall receive honor of the king.
·
3 The skill of the physician shall lift up his head: And in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration.
·
4 The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth; And he that is wise will not abhor them.
·
5 Was not the water made sweet with wood, That the virtue thereof might be known?
·
6 And he hath given men skill, That he might be honored in his marvelous works.
·
7 With such doth he heal [men,] And taketh away their pains.
·
8 Of such doth the apothecary make a confection; And of his works there is no end; And from him is peace over all the earth.
·
9 My son, in thy sickness be not negligent: But pray unto the Lord, and he will make thee whole.
·
10 Leave off from sin, and order thy hands aright, And cleanse thy heart from all wickedness.
·
11 Give a sweet savor, and a memorial of fine flour; And make a fat offering, as not being.
·
12 Then give place to the physician, for the Lord hath created him: Let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him.
·
13 There is a time when in their hands there is good success.
·
14 For they shall also pray unto the Lord, that he would prosper That which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life.
·
15 He that sinneth before his Maker, Let him fall into the hand of the physician.
·
16 My 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.
·
17 Weep 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;
·
18 For of heaviness cometh death, And the heaviness of the heart breaketh strength.
·
19 In affliction also sorrow remaineth: And the life of the poor is the curse of the heart.
·
20 Take no heaviness to heart: Drive it away, and remember the last end.
·
21 Forget him not, for there is no turning again: Thou shalt not do him good, but hurt thyself.
·
22 Remember his judgment: for thine also shall be so; Yesterday for me, and today for thee.
·
23 When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest; And be comforted for him when his spirit is departed from him.
·
24 The wisdom of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure: And he that hath little business shall become wise.
·
25 How can he get wisdom that holdeth the plow, And that glorieth in the goad, That driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labors, And whose talk is of bullocks?
·
26 He giveth his mind to make furrows; And is diligent to give the kine fodder.
·
27 So every carpenter and workmaster, That laboreth 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:
·
28 The smith also sitting by the anvil, And considering the iron work, The vapor 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:
·
29 So doth the potter sitting at his work, And turning the wheel about with his feet, Who is always carefully set at his work, And maketh all his work by number;
·
30 He 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:
·
31 All these trust to their hands; And every one is wise in his work.
·
32 Without these cannot a city be inhabited: And they shall not dwell where they will, nor go up and down:
·
33 They shall not be sought for in public 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.
·
34 But they will maintain the state of the world, And [all] their desire is in the work of their craft. But he that giveth his mind to the law of the most High, And is occupied in the meditation thereof,
·
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
"I sleep, and my heart waketh." I am still, and see that Thou art the Lord: for "the wisdom of the scribe cometh by opportunity of leisure; and he that hath little business shall become wise." "I sleep, and my heart waketh:" I rest from troublesome business, and my mind turns its attention to divine concerns (or communications).
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)