King James Version · Under the Greeks
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 38
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1 a physician with the due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him: for hath created him. 2For of cometh healing, and he shall receive of the king. 3The skill of the physician shall lift up his head: and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration. 4 hath created medicines out of the earth; and he that is will not abhor them. 5Was not the water made sweet with wood, that the virtue thereof might be known? 6And he hath given men skill, that he might be honoured in his marvellous works. 7With such doth he heal men, and taketh away their pains. 8Of such doth the apothecary make a confection; and of his works there is no end; and from him is peace over all the earth, 9My son, in thy sickness be not negligent: but unto , and he will make thee whole. 10Leave off from , and order thine hands aright, and cleanse thy from all wickedness. 11Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of ; and make a fat , as not being. 12Then give place to the physician, for hath created him: let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him. 13There is a time when in their hands there is good success. 14For they shall also unto , that he would prosper that, which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life. 15He that sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician. 16My son, let tears fall down over , and begin to , as if thou hadst suffered great harm thyself; and then cover his body according to the custom, and neglect not his burial. 17Weep bitterly, and make great moan, and use , as he is worthy, and that a day or two, lest thou be evil spoken of: and then comfort thyself for thy heaviness. 18For of heaviness cometh , and the heaviness of breaketh strength. 19In affliction also sorrow remaineth: and the life of is the of . 20Take no heaviness to : drive it away, and member the last end. 21Forget it not, for there is no turning again: thou shalt not do him good, but hurt thyself. 22Remember my : for thine also shall be so; yesterday for me, and to day for thee. 23When is at rest, let his remembrance rest; and be comforted for him, when his is departed from him. 24The of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure: and he that hath little business shall become . 25How can he get 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? 26He giveth his to make furrows; and is diligent to give the kine fodder. 27So every carpenter and workmaster, that laboureth night and day: and they that cut and seals, and are diligent to make great variety, and give themselves to counterfeit imagery, and watch to finish a work: 28The smith also sitting by the anvil, and considering the iron work, the vapour of the wasteth his , 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 to finish his work, and watcheth to polish it perfectly: 29So doth the 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; 30He fashioneth the 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: 31All these to their hands: and every one is in his work. 32Without these cannot a city be inhabited: and they shall not where they will, nor go up and down: 33They shall not be sought for in publick , nor sit high in : they shall not sit on the judges’ seat, nor understand the sentence of : they cannot declare justice and ; and they shall not be found where parables are spoken. 34But they will maintain the state of the world, and all their is in the work of their craft.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under the Greeks, 332 BC to 63 BC ›
Alexander's conquest and the kingdoms of his successors. Greek language and custom press in everywhere, and the crisis under Antiochus IV provokes the Maccabean revolt.
- The successors
- Alexander dies at thirty-two and his generals carve up the empire. Judea sits on the border between the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria, and is fought over by both for a century and a half, which is the ordinary condition of the corridor.
- Hellenism
- Not just conquest but a culture: the gymnasium, the theatre, Greek names, Greek dress, Greek as the language of anyone with ambitions. Some Jews embraced it, some resisted it, and the argument between them is the real subject of the Maccabean books. In Alexandria the Hebrew scriptures are translated into Greek, producing the Septuagint, which is the Bible most New Testament writers quote.
- The crisis
- Antiochus IV bans the practice of Judaism, plunders the temple, and sets up a pagan altar in it in 167 BC. The revolt under the Maccabees wins, the temple is rededicated in 164 BC, which is the origin of Hanukkah, and Judea has about eighty years of independence under the Hasmoneans before Rome arrives.
- Further afield
- Rome fights Carthage three times and ends up master of the Mediterranean. Euclid writes the Elements and Archimedes does his work at Syracuse. In China the Qin unify the country in 221 BC and the Han follow, opening what becomes the Silk Road.
All of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)