Bible Browser

Concerning Physicians and Health

38Honour physicians for their services,
   for the Lord created them;
² for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,
   and they are rewarded by the king.
³ The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,
   and in the presence of the great they are admired.
⁴ The Lord created medicines out of the earth,
   and the sensible will not despise them.
⁵ Was not water made sweet with a tree
   in order that its^* power might be known?
⁶ And he gave skill to human beings
   that he^* might be glorified in his marvellous works.
⁷ By them the physician^* heals and takes away pain;
⁸   the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.
God’s^* works will never be finished;
   and from him health^* spreads over all the earth.

⁹ My child, when you are ill, do not delay,
   but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
¹⁰ Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,
   and cleanse your heart from all sin.
¹¹ Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,
   and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.^*
12 Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
   do not let him leave you, for you need him.
¹³ There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,^*
14   for they too pray to the Lord
that he will grant them success in diagnosis^*
   and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
¹⁵ He who sins against his Maker
   will be defiant towards the physician.^*