Ben Sira 38:9-12

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.

Ben Sira 38:9-12 In-Context

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 grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.