Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Honor the physician with the honor due him, for his services, for the Lord created him too.
2| For healing comes from the Most High, and he will receive a gift from the king.
3| The physician's skill lifts up his head, and he is admired in the presence of great men.
4| The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and a sensible man will not despise them.
5| Was not water made sweet by a piece of wood, so that his power might be known?
6| And he gave men skill, that he might be glorified in his wonders;
7| by them he heals, and takes away pain,
8| and the pharmacist makes a compound from these. His works will never be finished, and from him well-being extends over the face of the earth.
9| My child, when you are sick do not neglect yourself, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
10| Put away wrongdoing and make your hands upright, and cleanse your heart from every sin.
11| Offer a sweet-smelling memorial offering of fine flour, and make the offering rich, as much as you can afford.
12| And give the physician his place, for the Lord created him too, and do not let him leave you, for you need him as well.
13| There is a time when success is in their hands,
14| for they too will beseech the Lord, that he may grant them success in giving relief and healing, for the sake of life.
15| Whoever offends the One who formed him should end up needing the doctor's care.
16| My child, let your tears fall over the dead, and begin the lament as one suffering terribly; wrap his body according to what is due him, and do not neglect his burial.
17| Weep bitterly and beat your breast in mourning, and observe the mourning he deserves, a day or two, to avoid gossip, and then be comforted, for grief's sake.
18| For from grief comes death, and grief of heart saps one's strength.
19| In continued sorrow grief goes too far, and the life of the poor weighs on the heart.
20| Do not give your heart over to grief; put it away, remembering the end that comes to all.
21| Do not forget him, for there is no coming back; you will do him no good, and you will harm yourself.
22| Remember that his judgment is as yours will be: mine yesterday, and yours today.
23| Once the departed one has found peace, let his memory settle too, and take comfort now that his spirit has gone forth.
24| The wisdom of the scribe comes from having leisure to study, and whoever has little business to attend to becomes wise.
25| How can one become wise who holds the plow, whose pride is in wielding the goad, who drives oxen and is occupied with their work, and whose talk is of bulls?
26| He sets his heart on plowing the furrows straight, and his diligence is spent on fodder for heifers.
27| So it is with every craftsman and master builder who labors by night as by day; those who cut the engravings of seals, whose patience is spent varying the design; he sets his heart on making the likeness true, and his diligence is to finish the work.
28| So it is with the smith sitting by the anvil, intent on the unfinished iron; the breath of the fire scorches his flesh, and he wrestles with the heat of the furnace; the sound of the hammer deafens his ear, and his eyes are fixed on the pattern of the vessel; he sets his heart on finishing his work, and his diligence is to perfect it.
29| So it is with the potter sitting at his work, turning the wheel with his feet, who is constantly anxious over his work, and all his labor is measured by count;
30| with his arm he shapes the clay, and before his feet he bends his strength; he sets his heart on finishing the glazing, and his diligence is to clean the kiln.
31| All these put their trust in their hands, and each becomes skilled in his own work.
32| Without them no city could be inhabited, and men would neither settle nor go about their lives.
33| Yet they are not sought out for the public assembly, nor do they rise to prominence in the popular assembly; they do not sit on the judge's seat, nor do they understand the decisions of the law; they cannot expound instruction or judgment, and they are not found among those who speak in proverbs.
34| But they maintain the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the practice of their craft.