28 So too is the smith sitting by the anvil and considering the unwrought iron. The smoke of the fire will waste his flesh. He toils in the heat of the furnace. The noise of the hammer deafens his ear. His eyes are upon the pattern of the object. He will set his heart upon perfecting his works. He will be careful to adorn them perfectly. (WEB) 29 So is the potter sitting at his work and turning the wheel around with his feet, who is always anxiously set at his work. He produces his handiwork in quantity. (WEB) 30 He will fashion the clay with his arm and will bend its strength in front of his feet. He will apply his heart to finish the glazing. He will be careful to clean the kiln. (WEB)
Sirach 38:28–30
Semantically similar passages
Wisdom of Solomon 15:8–10
8 Also, laboring to an evil end, he molds a vain god out of the same clay, he who, having but a little before been made of earth, after a short space goes his way to the earth out of which he was taken, when he is required to give back the soul which was lent h… (WEB)
Isaiah 44:11–13
11 Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame. 12 The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol w…
Isaiah 41:6–8
6 Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!” 7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it down so it will not be toppled. 8 “But you, O Is…
Wisdom of Solomon 13:10–12
10 But they were miserable, and their hopes were in dead things, who called them gods which are works of men’s hands, gold and silver, skillfully made, and likenesses of animals, or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand. (WEB) 11 Yes and some woodcutter might saw d… (WEB)
Wisdom of Solomon 15:12–14
12 But he accounted our life to be a game, and our lifetime a festival for profit; for, he says, one must get gain however one can, even if it is by evil. (WEB) 13 For this man, beyond all others, knows that he sins, out of earthy matter making brittle vessels and engrave… (WEB)
Odes of Solomon 16:1–2
1 As the work of the husbandman is the ploughshare: and the work of the steersman is the guidance of the ship: (ODE) 2 So also my work is the Psalm of the Lord: my craft and my occupation are in His praises: (ODE)
Jeremiah 18:2–4
2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was shaping from the clay became flawed in his hand; so he formed it into another v…
Job 38:13–15
13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it? 14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment. 15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
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