Sirach 36–39: Truly the Lord Has Created Him": A Prayer for Israel, the Physician, and the Scribe
Scripture: World English Bible
Have mercy upon us, O Lord the God of all, and look at us with favor;and send your fear upon all the nations.Lift up your hand against the foreign nationsand let them see your mighty power.As you showed your holiness in us before them,so be magnified in them before us.Let them know you, as we also have known you,that there is no God but only you, O God.Show new signs, and work various wonders.Glorify your hand and your right arm.Raise up indignation and pour out wrath.Take away the adversary and destroy the enemy.Hasten the time and remember your oath.Let them declare your mighty works.Let him who escapes be devoured by raging fire.May those who harm your people find destruction.Crush the heads of the rulers of the enemieswho say, “There is no one but ourselves.”Gather all the tribes of Jacob together,and take them for your inheritance, as from the beginning.O Lord, have mercy upon the people that is called by your name,and upon Israel, whom you likened to a firstborn.Have compassion upon the city of your sanctuary,Jerusalem, the place of your rest.Fill Zion. Exalt your oraclesand fill your people with your glory.Give testimony to those who were your creatures in the beginning,and fulfill the prophecies that have been spoken in your name.Reward those who wait for you,and men will put their trust in your prophets.Listen, O Lord, to the prayer of your servants,according to the blessing of Aaron concerning your people;and all those who are on the earth will knowthat you are the Lord, the eternal God.
The belly will eat any food,but one food is better than another.The mouth tastes meats taken in hunting,so does an understanding heart detect false speech.A contrary heart will cause heaviness.A man of experience will pay him back.A woman will receive any man,but one daughter is better than another.The beauty of a woman cheers the countenance.A man desires nothing more.If kindness and humility are on her tongue,her husband is not like other sons of men.He who gets a wife gets his richest treasure,a help meet for him and a pillar of support.Where no hedge is, the property will be plundered.He who has no wife will mourn as he wanders.For who would trust a nimble robber who skips from city to city?Even so, who would trust a man who has no nest, and lodges wherever he finds himself at nightfall?
Every friend will say, “I also am his friend”;but there is a friend which is only a friend in name.Isn’t there a grief in it even to deathwhen a companion and friend is turned into an enemy?O wicked imagination, why were you formedto cover the dry land with deceit?There is a companion who rejoices in the gladness of a friend,but in time of affliction will be against him.There is a companion who for the belly’s sake labors with his friend,yet in the face of battle will carry his buckler.Don’t forget a friend in your soul.Don’t be unmindful of him in your riches.
Every counselor extols counsel,but some give counsel in their own interest.Let your soul beware of a counselor,and know in advance what is his interest(for he will take counsel for himself),lest he cast the lot against you,and say to you, “Your way is good.”Then he will stand near you, to see what will happen to you.Don’t take counsel with one who looks askance at you.Hide your counsel from those who are jealous of you.Don’t consult with a woman about her rival,with a coward about war,with a merchant about business,with a buyer about selling,with an envious man about thankfulness,with an unmerciful man about kindliness,with a sluggard about any kind of work,with a hireling in your house about finishing his work,or with an idle servant about much business.Pay no attention to these in any matter of counsel.But rather be continually with a godly man,whom you know to be a keeper of the commandments,who in his soul is as your own soul,and who will grieve with you, if you fail.Make the counsel of your heart stand,for there is no one more faithful to you than it.For a man’s soul is sometimes inclined to inform himbetter than seven watchmen who sit on high on a watch-tower.Above all this ask the Most Highthat he may direct your way in truth.
Let reason be the beginning of every work.Let counsel go before every action.As a token of the changing of the heart,four kinds of things rise up:good and evil, life and death.That which rules over them continually is the tongue.There is one who is clever and the instructor of many,and yet is unprofitable to his own soul.There is one who is subtle in words, and is hated.He will be destitute of all food.For grace was not given to him from the Lord,because he is deprived of all wisdom.There is one who is wise to his own soul;and the fruits of his understanding are trustworthy in the mouth.A wise man will instruct his own people.The fruits of his understanding are trustworthy.A wise man will be filled with blessing.All those who see him will call him happy.The life of a man is counted by days.The days of Israel are innumerable.The wise man will inherit confidence among his people.His name will live forever.
My son, test your soul in your life.See what is evil for it, and don’t give in to it.For not all things are profitable for all men.Not every soul has pleasure in everything.Don’t be insatiable in any luxury.Don’t be greedy in the things that you eat.For overeating brings disease,and gluttony causes nausea.Because of gluttony, many have perished,but he who takes heed shall prolong his life.
Honor a physician according to your need with the honors due to him,for truly the Lord has created him.For healing comes from the Most High,and he shall receive a gift from the king.The skill of the physician will lift up his head.He will be admired in the sight of great men.The Lord created medicines out of the earth.A prudent man will not despise them.Wasn’t water made sweet with wood,that its power might be known?He gave men skillthat he might be glorified in his marvelous works.With them he healsand takes away pain.With these, the pharmacist makes a mixture.God’s works won’t be brought to an end.From him, peace is upon the face of the earth.
My son, in your sickness don’t be negligent,but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.Put away wrong doing, and direct your hands in righteousness.Cleanse your heart from all sin.Give a sweet savor and a memorial of fine flour,and pour oil on your offering, according to your means.Then give place to the physician, for truly the Lord has created him.Don’t let him leave you, for you need him.There is a time when recovery is in their hands.For they also shall ask the Lordto prosper them in diagnosis and in healing for the maintenance of life.He who sins before his Maker,let him fall into the hands of the physician.
My son, let your tears fall over the dead,and as one who suffers grievously, begin lamentation.Wind up his body with due honor.Don’t neglect his burial.Make bitter weeping and make passionate wailing.Let your mourning be according to his merit,for one day or two, lest you be spoken evil of;and so be comforted for your sorrow.For from sorrow comes death.Sorrow of heart saps one’s strength.In calamity, sorrow also remains.A poor man’s life is grievous to the heart.Don’t give your heart to sorrow.Put it away, remembering the end.Don’t forget it, for there is no returning again.You do him no good, and you would harm yourself.Remember his end, for so also will yours be:yesterday for him, and today for you.When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest.Be comforted for him when his spirit departs from him.
The wisdom of the scribe comes by the opportunity of leisure.He who has little business can become wise.How could he become wise who holds the plow,who glories in the shaft of the goad,who drives oxen and is occupied in their labors,and who mostly talks about bulls?He will set his heart upon turning his furrows.His lack of sleep is to give his heifers their fodder.So is every craftsman and master artisanwho passes his time by night as by day,those who cut engravings of signets.His diligence is to make great variety.He sets his heart to preserve likeness in his portraiture,and is careful to finish his work.So too is the smith sitting by the anviland considering the unwrought iron.The smoke of the fire will waste his flesh.He toils in the heat of the furnace.The noise of the hammer deafens his ear.His eyes are upon the pattern of the object.He will set his heart upon perfecting his works.He will be careful to adorn them perfectly.So is the potter sitting at his workand turning the wheel around with his feet,who is always anxiously set at his work.He produces his handiwork in quantity.He will fashion the clay with his armand will bend its strength in front of his feet.He will apply his heart to finish the glazing.He will be careful to clean the kiln.
All these put their trust in their hands.Each becomes skillful in his own work.Without these no city would be inhabited.Men wouldn’t reside as foreigners or walk up and down there.They won’t be sought for in the council of the people.They won’t mount on high in the assembly.They won’t sit on the seat of the judge.They won’t understand the covenant of judgment.Neither will they declare instruction and judgment.They won’t be found where parables are.But they will maintain the fabric of the age.Their prayer is in the handiwork of their craft.
Not so he who has applied his souland meditates in the law of the Most High.He will seek out the wisdom of all the ancientsand will be occupied with prophecies.He will keep the sayings of the men of renownand will enter in amidst the subtleties of parables.He will seek out the hidden meaning of proverbsand be conversant in the dark sayings of parables.He will serve among great menand appear before him who rules.He will travel through the land of foreign nations,for he has learned what is good and evil among men.He will apply his heart to return early to the Lord who made him,and will make supplication before the Most High,and will open his mouth in prayer,and will ask for pardon for his sins.
If the great Lord wills,he will be filled with the spirit of understanding;he will pour forth the words of his wisdomand in prayer give thanks to the Lord.He will direct his counsel and knowledge,and he will meditate in his secrets.He will show the instruction which he has been taughtand will glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord.Many will commend his understanding.So long as the world endures, it won’t be blotted out.His memory won’t depart.His name will live from generation to generation.Nations will declare his wisdom.The congregation will proclaim his praise.If he continues, he will leave a greater name than a thousand.If he finally rests, it is enough for him.
Yet more I will utter, which I have thought about.I am filled like the full moon.Listen to me, you holy children,and bud forth like a rose growing by a brook of water.Give a sweet fragrance like frankincense.Put forth flowers like a lily.Scatter a sweet smell and sing a song of praise.Bless the Lord for all his works!Magnify his nameand give utterance to his praisewith the songs on your lips and with harps!Say this when you utter his praise:
All the works of the Lord are exceedingly good,and every command will be done in its time.No one can say, “What is this?” “Why is that?”for at the proper time they will all be sought out.At his word, the waters stood as a heap,as did the reservoirs of water at the word of his mouth.At his command all his good pleasure is fulfilled.There is no one who can hinder his salvation.The works of all flesh are before him.It’s impossible to be hidden from his eyes.He sees from everlasting to everlasting.There is nothing too wonderful for him.No one can say, “What is this?” “Why is that?”for all things are created for their own uses.
His blessing covered the dry land as a riverand saturated it as a flood.As he has made the waters salty,so the heathen will inherit his wrath.His ways are plain to the holy.They are stumbling blocks to the wicked.Good things are created from the beginning for the good.So are evil things for sinners.The main things necessary for the life of manare water, fire, iron, salt,wheat flour, and honey, milk,the blood of the grape, oil, and clothing.All these things are for good to the godly,but for sinners, they will be turned into evils.
There are winds that are created for vengeance,and in their fury they lay on their scourges heavily.In the time of reckoning, they pour out their strength,and will appease the wrath of him who made them.Fire, hail, famine, and death—all these are created for vengeance—wild beasts’ teeth, scorpions, adders,and a sword punishing the ungodly to destruction.They will rejoice in his commandment,and will be made ready upon earth when needed.In their seasons, they won’t disobey his command.
Therefore from the beginning I was convinced,and I thought it through and left it in writing:All the works of the Lord are good.He will supply every need in its time.No one can say, “This is worse than that,”for they will all be well approved in their time.Now with all your hearts and voices, sing praisesand bless the Lord’s name!