Sirach · Brenton's English Septuagint
Sirach 38 Brenton's English Septuagint
Notes on this text (2)
- Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
- Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.
Sirach is not in RV1909.
1 Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him: for the Lord hath created him.
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2 For of the most High cometh healing, and he shall receive honour of the king.
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3 The skill of the physician shall lift up his head: and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration.
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4 The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor them.
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5 Was not the water made sweet with wood, that the virtue thereof might be known?
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6 And he hath given men skill, that he might be honoured in his marvellous works.
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7 With such doth he heal [men,] and taketh away their pains.
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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.
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9 My son, in thy sickness be not negligent: but pray unto the Lord, and he will make thee whole.
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10 Leave off from sin, and order thine hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all wickedness.
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11 Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour; and make a fat offering, as not being.
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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.
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13 There is a time when in their hands there is good success.
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14 For they shall also pray unto the Lord, that he would prosper that which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life.
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15 He that sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician.
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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.
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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;
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18 for of heaviness cometh death, and the heaviness of the heart breaketh strength.
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19 In affliction also sorrow remaineth: and the life of the poor is the curse of the heart.
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20 Take no heaviness to heart: drive it away, and remember the last end.
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21 Forget him not, for there is no turning again: thou shalt not do him good, but hurt thyself.
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22 Remember his judgment: for thine also shall be so; yesterday for me, and to day for thee.
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23 When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest; and be comforted for him when his spirit is departed from him.
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24 The wisdom of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure: and he that hath little business shall become wise.
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25 How can he get wisdom that holdeth the plough, and that glorieth in the goad, that driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labours, and whose talk is of bullocks?
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26 He giveth his mind to make furrows; and is diligent to give the kine fodder.
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27 So every carpenter and workmaster, that laboureth 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:
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28 The smith also sitting by the anvil, and considering the iron work, the vapour 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:
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29 So doth the potter sitting at his work, and turning the wheel about with his feet, who is alway carefully set at his work, and maketh all his work by number;
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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:
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31 all these trust to their hands; and every one is wise in his work.
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32 Without these cannot a city be inhabited: and they shall not dwell where they will, nor go up and down:
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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.
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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,
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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)