Common English Bible

Sirach 38:29-33 Common English Bible (CEB)

29. So it is with potters sitting at their work,turning the wheel at their feet.They lie down always feeling anxietyabout their work,and every product of theirs is valued.

30. They will mold the clay with their handsand work the wheel with their feet.They will devote themselvesto finishing the glazing,and they lose sleepin 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 liveas immigrants nor travel about.However, they aren’t sought outwhen the people hold a council,

33. and they won’t gain prominencein the assembly.They won’t sit in the judge’s seat,and they won’t understandthe disposition of a legal case.They will never shed lighton instruction and judgment,and their wordswon’t be memorialized in proverbs.