Ben Sira - chapter 38

38: 1 - 34 (translated by Edgar Goodspeed)
Show the physician due honor in view of your need of him, for the Lord has created him; healing comes form the Most High, and he will receive presents from the king.  The skill of the physician exalts him, and he is admired among the great.  The Lord has created medicines out of the earth, and a sensible man will not refuse them.  Was not water made sweet by wood, so that its strength might be shown?  The Lord has given humanity knowledge so the He might be glorified for His wonderful works.  Wtih them He cures and takes away pain, the druggist makes a mixture of them.  The Lord's works will never end, and from Him peace spreads over the face of the earth.
My child, do not be negligent when you are sick, but pray to the Lord, and he will cure you.  Renounce wrongdoing and make your hands do right, and cleanse your heart from every sin; offer a fragrant offering and a memorial sacrifice of fine flour, and make your offering rich, as though you were no longer to live, and leave room for the physician, for the Lord has created him, and He must not desert you, for you need him.
There is a time when your welfare depends upon them, for they too will pray the Lord to guide them to bringing relief and effecting a cure and restoration to health.  As for the one who sins in the sight of his Maker, may he fall into the hands of the physician!
My child, for the dead let your tears fall, and like one who is suffering terribly begin your lament.  Wrap his body up fittingly, and do not neglect his burial.  Weep bitterly and wail passionately and show your grief as he may deserve, for one day or perhaps two, to avert criticism; then be comforted for your sorrow.  For death comes of sorrow, and sorrow of heart prostrates one's strength.  In misfortune grief will continue, and the life of the poor saddens the heart.  But do not resign your heart to grief; dismiss it, but remember your end, do not forget it, for he will not come back; you cannot help him, and you will harm yourself; "Remember my judgment, for your will be like it; mine today, and yours tomorrow!"  When the dead is at rest, let his memory rest, and be comforted for him when his spirit departs. 
A scribe attains wisdom through the opportunities of leisure, and the man who has little business to do can become wise.  How can the man who holds the plow become wise, who glories in handling the ox-goad?  Who drives oxen, and guides them at their work, and whose discourse is with the sons of bulls?  He sets his mind on turning his furrows, and his anxiety is about fodder for heifers.  It is so with every craftsman and builder, who keeps at work at night as well as by day.  Some cut carved seals, and elaborate variety of design; another puts his mind on painting a likeness, and is anxious to complete his work.  It is so with the smith sitting by his anvil, and expert in working in iron; the smoke of the fire reduces his flesh, and he exerts himself in the heat of the furnace.  He bends his ear to the sound of the hammer, and his eyes are on the pattern of the implement.  He puts his mind on completing his work, and he is anxious to finish preparing it.  It is so with the potter, as he sits at his work, and turns the wheel with his foot; he is constantly careful about his work, and all his manufacture is by measure; he will shape the clay with his arm, and bend its strength with his feet; he puts his mind on finishing the glazing and he is anxious to make his furnace clean.
All these rely on their hands; and each one is skilful in his own work; withouth them, no city can be inhabited, and people will not live in one or go about in it.  But all of these are not sought for to advise the people, and in the public assembly they do not excel.  They do not sit on the judge's seat, and they do not think about the decision of lawsuits; they do not utter instruction or judgment, and they are not found using proverbs.  Yet they support the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the practice of their trade.