Sirach 38:24-34
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Trades and Crafts
24 The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure;
only the one who has little business can become wise.(A)
25 How can one become wise who handles the plow
and who glories in the shaft of a goad,
who drives oxen and is occupied with their work,
and whose talk is about the offspring of bulls?
26 He sets his heart on plowing furrows,
and he loses sleep over fodder for the heifers.
27 So it is with every artisan and master artisan
who labors by night as well as by day;
those who carve the signets of seals—
each is diligent in making a great variety;
they set their heart on painting a lifelike image,
and they lose sleep in order to finish their work.(B)
28 So it is with the smith sitting by the anvil,
intent on his ironwork;
the breath of the fire melts his flesh,
and he struggles with the heat of the furnace;
the sound of the hammer deafens his ears,[a]
and his eyes are on the pattern of the object.
He sets his heart on finishing his handiwork,
and he loses sleep to complete its decoration.(C)
29 So it is with the potter sitting at his work
and turning the wheel with his feet;
he always lies down anxious about his work,
and his every work is taken into account.(D)
30 He molds the clay with his arm
and makes it pliable with his feet;
he sets his heart to finish the glazing,
and he takes care in firing[b] the kiln.
31 All these rely on their hands,
and all are skillful in their own work.
32 Without them no city can be inhabited,
and wherever they live they will not go hungry.[c]
Yet they are not sought out for the council of the people,[d]
33 nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly.
They do not sit in the judge’s seat,
nor do they understand the decisions of the courts;
they cannot expound discipline or judgment,
and they are not found among the rulers.[e]
34 But they maintain the fabric of the world,
and their concern is for[f] the exercise of their trade.
The Activity of the Scribe
How different the one who devotes himself
to the study of the law of the Most High!
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.