The scribe’s superiority
24 The scribe's wisdom depends on the opportunity for leisure, and whoever lacks busyness will become wise.
25
How will people become wise when they take hold of a plow or pride themselves in how well they handle an ox prod, when they drive cattle and are absorbed with their work, and their conversation is about bulls?
26
Their hearts are given over to plowing furrows, and they lose sleep because they're concerned about supplying heifers with food.
27
So it is also with every craftsperson and master artisan who carries over the day's work into the night, who carves figures on seals and works diligently to make diverse ornamentations. They will devote themselves to producing a lifelike painting, and they lose sleep in order to finish their work.
28
So it is with smiths who sit near an anvil and who closely examine works of iron. The blast of the fire will melt their flesh, and they will struggle with the heat of the furnace. The sound of the hammer will strike their ears again and again, and their eyes are focused on the pattern of the object. They will devote themselves to finishing the work, and they lose sleep in order to complete its decoration.
29
So it is with potters sitting at their work, turning the wheel at their feet. They lie down always feeling anxiety about their work, and every product of theirs is valued.
30
They will mold the clay with their hands and work the wheel with their feet. They will devote themselves to finishing the glazing, and they lose sleep in order to clean the kiln.
31
All of these have relied on their hands, and each one is skilled in their work.
32
Without them a city can't be inhabited, and they neither go abroad to live as immigrants nor travel about. However, they aren't sought out when the people hold a council,
33
and they won't gain prominence in the assembly. They won't sit in the judge's seat, and they won't understand the disposition of a legal case. They will never shed light on instruction and judgment, and their words won't be memorialized in proverbs.
34
But they support the world from its foundations, and their prayer is concerned with their craft. But those who devote themselves and think about the Law of the Most High are the exception.