4 Esteem a physician with the esteem due to him for the uses which you may have for him:
For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has created him.
2 For healing comes from the Most High,
And He shall receive esteem from the sovereign.
3 The skill of the physician shall raise his head;
And in the sight of great men he shall be admired.
4 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has created medicines out of the earth;
And he who is wise does not reject them.
5 Was not the water made sweet with wood,
That its power might be known?
6 And He has given men skill,
That He might be esteemed by His marvellous works.
7 With such He heals and takes away their pains.
8 Of such the perfumer makes a perfume;
And of His works there is no end;
And from Him there is peace over all the earth.
9 My son, in your sickness do not be slack;
But pray to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and He shall heal you.
10 Cease from sin, and order your hands well,
And cleanse your heart from all wickedness.
11 Offer a sweet fragrance, and a remembrance of fine flour;
And make an offering of fat of your being.
12 So give place to the physician, for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has created him;
Do not let him leave you, for you have need of him.
13 There is a time when there is good success in their hands.
14 For they shall also pray to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄,
That He would prosper that which they give,
For ease and health to prolong life.
15 He who sins before his Maker,
Let him fall in the hand of the physician.
16 My son, let tears fall down over the dead,
And begin to lament, as if you had suffered great harm yourself;
And then cover his body according to the custom,
And do not neglect his burial.
17 Weep bitterly, and make a great mourning with lamentation, as he is worthy,
And that a day or two, lest you are spoken evil of;
And then comfort yourself for your grief.
18 For from grief comes death,
and heaviness of the heart destroys strength.
19 In affliction sorrow also remains;
And the life of the poor is the curse of the heart.
20 Take no grief to heart;
Drive it away, and remember the latter end.
21 Do not forget it, for there is no returning again;
You shall do him no good, but harm yourself.
22 “Remember my judgment; for so shall yours be also…
Yesterday for me, and today for you.”
23 When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest;
And be comforted for him, when his spirit has departed from him.
24 The wisdom of a learned man comes by opportunity of leisure;
And he who has little business may become wise.
25 How shall he who holds the plough attain wisdom,
And who sharpens the goad, who drives oxen,
and is occupied in their labour, and whose talk is of bulls?
26 He gives his mind to making furrows;
And is diligent to give the cattle fodder.
27 So every carpenter and worker, that labours night and day;
And those who cut and engrave seals,
And are diligent to make great variety, and give themselves to copy imagery, and watch to finish a work;
28 Also the smith sitting by the anvil, and considering the iron work,
The smoke of the fire weakens his flesh, and he fights the heat of the furnace;
The noise of the hammer and the anvil is constantly in his ears, and his eyes are fixed on the pattern of that which he makes;
He applies his mind to finish his work,
And watches to polish it perfectly.
29 So the potter sits at his work,
And turns the wheel around with his feet,
Who is always focused at his work,
and makes all his work by number;
30 He moulds the clay with his arm, and bows down his strength before his feet;
He applies himself to the glazing;
And he is diligent to clean the furnace.
31 All these rely on their hands,
And everyone is skilled in his work.
32 Without these a city cannot be inhabited;
And they could not dwell where they do, nor go up and down.
33 They shall not be sought in public counsel, nor sit high in the assembly;
They shall not sit on the seat of judges, nor understand the ruling of judgment;
They cannot declare righteousness and right-ruling;
And they shall not be found where parables are spoken.
34 But they maintain the face of the world,
And their desire is in the work of their craft.