---
title: "Sirach 38 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/sirach/38/
description: "Of physicians and medicines: what is to be done in sickness, and how we are to… Sirach 38 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Sirach 38

Sirach 38 is chapter 38 of 51 in the Book of Sirach. Here are all 39 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Of physicians and medicines: what is to be done in sickness, and how we are to mourn for the dead. Of the employments of labourers and artificers.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Sirach 38 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Honor the physician because of necessity, and because the Most High created him.
2. For all healing is from God, and so he will receive gifts from the King.
3. The expertise of the physician will lift up his head, and in the sight of great men, he will be praised.
4. The Most High has created medicines from the earth, and a prudent man will not abhor them.
5. Was not bitter water made sweet with wood?
6. The benefits of these things is recognized by men, and the Most High has given this knowledge to men, so that he may be honored in his wonders.
7. By these things, he will cure or mitigate their suffering, and the pharmacist will make soothing ointments, and he will form healing medicines, and there will be no end to his works.
8. For the peace of God is upon the surface of the earth.
9. Son, in your infirmity, you should not neglect yourself, but pray to the Lord, and he will cure you.
10. Turn away from sin, and direct your hands, and cleanse your heart from every offense.
11. Give a sweet offering, and a memorial of fine flour, and fatten your oblation, but also give a place to the physician.
12. For the Lord created him. And so, do not let him depart from you, for his works are necessary.
13. For there is a time when you may fall into their hands.
14. Truly, they will beseech the Lord, so that he may direct their treatments and cures, for the sake of their way of life.
15. He who sins in the sight of the One who made him will fall into the hands of the physician.
16. Son, shed tears over the dead, and begin to weep, as if you had suffered dreadfully. And according to judgment, cover his body, and you should not neglect his burial.
17. And though you will sink down into bitterness, bear his mourning for one day, and then be consoled in your sadness.
18. And carry out his mourning, according to his merit, for one or two days because of this loss.
19. Yet sadness hastens death and overwhelms strength, and the sorrow of the heart bows down the neck.
20. When one is taken away, sorrow remains. But the resources of a destitute man is found in his heart.
21. You should not give your heart over to sadness, but push it away from you. And remember the very end.
22. Do not be willing to forget this; for there is no turning back. Otherwise, it will not benefit you, and you will cause great harm to yourself.
23. Call to mind my judgment. For so shall it be for you also. Yesterday is mine, and today is yours.
24. When the deceased is at rest, let his memory rest also. And console him at the departure of his spirit.
25. The wisdom of a scribe is found in his time of leisure. So whoever has less to do will gain wisdom.
26. With what wisdom will someone be filled who holds the plow, and who boasts of the cattle prod that drives the oxen forward, and who is occupied in these labors, and whose only conversation is about the offspring of bulls?
27. He will give his mind over to the plowing of furrows, and his vigilance to the fattening of the cows.
28. Similarly, every craftsman and artisan, who crafts in the night as well as in the day, who sculpts graven seals, and who, by his diligence, varies the image, will give his mind over to the likeness of the image. And he will complete the work by his vigilance.
29. The blacksmith, sitting by his anvil and considering a work of iron, is similar. The steam from the fire singes his flesh, and he struggles against the heat of the furnace.
30. The voice of the hammer is ever in his ears, and his eye is upon the pattern of the ironwork.
31. He gives his heart to the completion of his work, and his vigilance adorns it to perfection.
32. The potter, sitting at his work and turning the wheel with his feet, is similar. He has settled into a continual concern for his work, and there is a rhythm in all that he does.
33. He forms the clay with his arm, and he bends his strength over his feet.
34. He will give his heart over to the completion of the glazing, and his vigilance to the cleansing of the furnace.
35. All these persons trust in their own hands, and each one is wise in his own art.
36. Without these persons, a city is not built.
37. But they will neither inhabit nor walk around in the city. And they will not go across to the church.
38. They will not sit upon the seats of judges, and they will not understand a decree of judgment. And they will not make clear discipline and judgment, and they will not be found to understand parables.
39. But they will strengthen the state of the world, and their prayer will be in their artistic works, applying their soul, and searching the law of the Most High.

## Sirach 38 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Honora medicum propter necessitatem: etenim illum creavit Altissimus.
2. A Deo est enim omnis medela, et a rege accipiet donationem.
3. Disciplina medici exaltabit caput illius, et in conspectu magnatorum collaudabitur.
4. Altissimus creavit de terra medicamenta, et vir prudens non abhorrebit illa.
5. Nonne a ligno indulcata est aqua amara?
6. Ad agnitionem hominum virtus illorum: et dedit hominibus scientiam Altissimus, honorari in mirabilibus suis.
7. In his curans mitigabit dolorem: et unguentarius faciet pigmenta suavitatis, et unctiones conficiet sanitatis: et non consummabuntur opera ejus.
8. Pax enim Dei super faciem terræ.
9. Fili, in tua infirmitate ne despicias teipsum: sed ora Dominum, et ipse curabit te.
10. Averte a delicto, et dirige manus, et ab omni delicto munda cor tuum.
11. Da suavitatem et memoriam similaginis, et impingua oblationem, et da locum medico:
12. etenim illum Dominus creavit, et non discedat a te, quia opera ejus sunt necessaria.
13. Est enim tempus quando in manus illorum incurras:
14. ipsi vero Dominum deprecabuntur, ut dirigat requiem eorum, et sanitatem, propter conversationem illorum.
15. Qui delinquit in conspectu ejus qui fecit eum, incidet in manus medici.
16. Fili, in mortuum produc lacrimas, et quasi dira passus incipe plorare: et secundum judicium contege corpus illius, et non despicias sepulturam illius.
17. Propter delaturam autem amare fer luctum illius uno die, et consolare propter tristitiam:
18. et fac luctum secundum meritum ejus uno die, vel duobus, propter detractionem:
19. a tristitia enim festinat mors, et cooperit virtutem, et tristitia cordis flectit cervicem.
20. In abductione permanet tristitia, et substantia inopis secundum cor ejus.
21. Ne dederis in tristitia cor tuum, sed repelle eam a te, et memento novissimorum.
22. Noli oblivisci, neque enim est conversio: et huic nihil proderis, et teipsum pessimabis.
23. Memor esto judicii mei: sic enim erit et tuum: mihi heri, et tibi hodie.
24. In requie mortui requiescere fac memoriam ejus, et consolare illum in exitu spiritus sui.
25. Sapientia scribæ in tempore vacuitatis, et qui minoratur actu sapientiam percipiet, qua sapientia replebitur.
26. Qui tenet aratrum, et qui gloriatur in jaculo, stimulo boves agitat, et conversatur in operibus eorum, et enarratio ejus in filiis taurorum.
27. Cor suum dabit ad versandos sulcos, et vigilia ejus in sagina vaccarum.
28. Sic omnis faber et architectus, qui noctem tamquam diem transigit: qui sculpit signacula sculptilia, et assiduitas ejus variat picturam: cor suum dabit in similitudinem picturæ, et vigilia sua perficiet opus.
29. Sic faber ferrarius sedens juxta incudem, et considerans opus ferri: vapor ignis uret carnes ejus, et in calore fornacis concertatur.
30. Vox mallei innovat aurem ejus, et contra similitudinem vasis oculus ejus.
31. Cor suum dabit in consummationem operum, et vigilia sua ornabit in perfectionem.
32. Sic figulus sedens ad opus suum, convertens pedibus suis rotam, qui in sollicitudine positus est semper propter opus suum, et in numero est omnis operatio ejus.
33. In brachio suo formabit lutum, et ante pedes suos curvabit virtutem suam.
34. Cor suum dabit ut consummet linitionem, et vigilia sua mundabit fornacem.
35. Omnes hi in manibus suis speraverunt, et unusquisque in arte sua sapiens est.
36. Sine his omnibus non ædificatur civitas,
37. et non inhabitabunt, nec inambulabunt, et in ecclesiam non transilient.
38. Super sellam judicis non sedebunt, et testamentum judicii non intelligent, neque palam facient disciplinam et judicium, et in parabolis non invenientur:
39. sed creaturam ævi confirmabunt: et deprecatio illorum in operatione artis, accomodantes animam suam, et conquirentes in lege Altissimi.

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 25: “A scribe” … That is, a doctor of the law, or, a learned man.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).