38^{1-15})--then, as the conclusion of the passage, in the Greek text come these words which read like a very doubtful compliment, _He that sinneth before his Maker-- Let him fall into the hands of the physician_. But Ben Sirach must be acquitted of malice, for the Greek text turns out to be a mistranslation of the original Hebrew which fortunately has here been recovered; and all ends happily thus: _He that sinneth before his Maker Will behave himself proudly before a physician_. Good doctrine! Sound therapeutics and sound theology are allies, not enemies. Reference to the special trades may be few, but some of those few are memorable. Thus the only allusion in _Proverbs_ to the unskilled labourer is one of the poignant sayings of the Book: _The labourer’s appetite laboureth for him, For his mouth constrains him to toil_ (Pr. 16^{26}): Hunger! that unwearying goad of men, so beneficial to the race, so pitilessly cruel to the individual. Ben Sirach gives us a glimpse of many men in some graphic verses--the ploughman, the cattle-driver, the engraver, the smith, the potter: _The wisdom of the scribe cometh by opportunity of leisure, And he that hath little business shall become wise. How shall he become wise that holdeth the plough, That glorieth in the shaft of the goad, That driveth oxen, and is busied in their labours, And whose discourse is of the stock of bulls? He will set his heart upon the turning of furrows, And his wakefulness is to give his heifers their fodder. So is every artificer and workmaster That passeth his time by night as by day, Cutting gravings of signets, And his diligence is to make great variety: He will set his heart to preserve likeness in his portraiture, And will be wakeful to finish his work. So is the smith sitting by the anvil And considering the unwrought iron; The vapour of the fire will waste his flesh, And with the heat of the furnace will he contend; The noise of the hammer will be ever in his ear And his eyes upon the pattern of the vessel: He will set his heart upon perfecting his works, And he will be wakeful to adorn them perfectly. So is the potter sitting at his work, And turning the wheel about with his feet; Who is alway anxiously set at his work, And all his handicraft is by number; He will fashion the clay with his arm, And bend its strength in front of his feet; He will apply his heart to finish the glazing, And he will be wakeful to make clean the furnace._