Sirach 38:24-34

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

²⁴ The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure;
    only the one who has little business can become wise.
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 bulls?
²⁶ He sets his heart on plowing furrows,
    and he is careful about 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 cut the signets of seals,
    each is diligent in making a great variety;
they set their heart on painting a lifelike image,
    and they are careful to finish their work.
²⁸ So it is with the smith, sitting by the anvil,
    intent on his iron-work;
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 is careful to complete its decoration.
²⁹ So it is with the potter sitting at his work
    and turning the wheel with his feet;
he is always deeply concerned over his products,
    and he produces them in quantity.
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.

How different the one who devotes himself
    to the study of the law of the Most High!