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In the days of[a] Esar-haddon[b] I returned home, and my wife Anna and my son Tobias were restored to me. At our Festival of Pentecost, which is the sacred Festival of Weeks, a good dinner was prepared for me, and I reclined to eat.(A) When the table had been set for me and an abundance of food placed before me, I said to my son Tobias, “Go, my son, and bring whatever poor person you may find of our kindred among the exiles in Nineveh who is wholeheartedly mindful of God,[c] and he shall eat together with me. I will wait for you, my son, until you come back.” So Tobias went to look for some poor person of our kindred. When he had returned he said, “Father!” And I replied, “Here I am, my son.” Then he went on to say, “Look, father, one of our own nation has been killed and thrown into the marketplace, and now he lies there strangled.” Then I sprang up, left the dinner before even tasting it, and removed him from the square and laid him in one of the outbuildings at my home until sunset, when I might bury him. When I returned, I washed myself and ate my food in sorrow. Then I remembered the prophecy of Amos, how he said against Bethel,

    “Your festivals shall be turned into mourning
    and all your songs[d] into lamentation.”

And I wept.(B)

Tobit Becomes Blind

When the sun had set, I went and dug a grave and buried him.(C) And my neighbors laughed and said, “Is he still not afraid? He has already been hunted down to be put to death for doing this, and he ran away, yet here he is again burying the dead!”(D) That same night I washed myself and went into my courtyard and lay down by the wall of the courtyard; my face was uncovered because of the heat.(E) 10 I did not know that there were sparrows on the wall; their fresh droppings fell into my eyes and produced white films. I went to physicians to be healed, but the more they treated me with ointments, the more my vision was obscured by the white films, until I became completely blind. For four years I remained unable to see. All my kindred were sorry for me, and Ahikar took care of me for two years before he went to Elymais.(F)

Tobit’s Wife Earns Their Livelihood

11 At that time my wife Anna earned money at women’s work. 12 She used to send what she made to the owners, and they would pay wages to her. One day, the seventh of Dystrus, when she cut off a piece she had woven and sent it to the owners, they paid her full wages and also gave her a young goat for a meal. 13 When it came toward me, the goat began to bleat, so I called her and said, “Where did you get this goat? It is surely not stolen, is it? Return it to the owners, for we have no right to eat anything stolen.”(G) 14 But she said to me, “It was given to me as a gift in addition to my wages.” But I did not believe her and told her to return it to the owners. I became flushed with anger against her over this. Then she replied to me, “Where are your acts of charity? Where are your righteous deeds? These things are known about you!”[e](H)

Footnotes

  1. 2.1 Q ms: S Then under
  2. 2.1 Gk Sacherdonos
  3. 2.2 OL: S lacks of God
  4. 2.6 OL mss: S reads ways
  5. 2.14 Or to you; Gk with you

When I returned to my house in the time of King Esarhaddon, my wife Anna and my son Tobias were restored to me.

Tobit is blinded

During our Festival of Pentecost, which is the holy Festival of Weeks, a splendid meal was cooked for me, and I lay down to eat. The table was set before me, and many fine foods were brought to me. Then I said to my son Tobias, “Go, my son, and find one of our poorer relatives captive here in Nineveh, someone who pays attention to God with all his heart. Bring him here to eat with me. I will wait here, son, until you return.”

Tobias left to find some poor person among our relatives. When he returned, he said, “Father?”

I answered, “I’m here, my son.”

He exclaimed, “Father, one of our people has been murdered and tossed into the marketplace; his strangled body is just lying there.”

I got up and left the meal before tasting it. I removed the body from the street and placed it in one of the smaller houses until sunset when I would bury it. Then, when I returned, I washed myself and ate my food in sadness. I remembered the word that Amos the prophet pronounced against Bethel: Your festivals will be transformed into sadness and all your songs[a] into sorrowful wailing.[b] And I wept.

After sunset I went out, dug a hole, and buried him. My neighbors made fun of me, saying, “Is he no longer afraid that he will be killed for doing this kind of thing? He ran away, but now look: he is burying the dead again!”

That night I washed myself and went into my courtyard and fell asleep alongside the courtyard wall, with my face uncovered because of the heat. 10 I didn’t know that there were sparrows in the wall above me, and their warm droppings fell into my eyes, forming white spots. I went to doctors to be healed, but the more they applied their medicines on me, the worse the white spots became until I was completely blinded. I couldn’t see with my eyes for four years. All my relatives felt sorry for me, and Ahikar took care of me for two years until he went to Elymais.

Tobit’s plight worsens

11 At that time my wife Anna made a living by weaving cloth out of wool.[c] 12 She would send the cloth to the wool suppliers,[d] and they would pay her for it. On the seventh day of Dystrus,[e] she finished a piece on the loom for her employers. They gave her the full wages, along with a young goat from their herd for her home. 13 When it approached me, the kid began to bleat. So I called to Anna and said, “Where does this goat come from? It isn’t stolen, is it? Return it to its owners, for we have no right to eat anything that is stolen!”

14 But she said to me, “It was given to me as a bonus in addition to my pay.” I didn’t believe her and demanded that she return it to the owners. I grew red with anger at her. But she replied and said to me, “And what’s become of your charitable donations? What’s become of your righteous deeds? You have a reputation for that sort of thing, don’t you?!”[f]

Footnotes

  1. Tobit 2:6 Gk paths
  2. Tobit 2:6 Amos 8:10
  3. Tobit 2:11 Gk by doing women’s work
  4. Tobit 2:12 Or to its owners
  5. Tobit 2:12 March
  6. Tobit 2:14 Gk Where are your charitable donations now? Where are your righteous deeds? See, these things are known about you!

But after this, when there was a festival of the Lord, and a good dinner was prepared in Tobias's house,

He said to his son: Go, and bring some of our tribe that fear God, to feast with us.

And when he had gone, returning he told him, that one of the children of Israel lay slain in the street. And he forthwith leaped up from his place at the table, and left his dinner, and came fasting to the body:

And taking it up carried it privately to his house, that after the sun was down, he might bury him cautiously.

And when he had hid the body, he ate bread with mourning and fear,

Remembering the word which the Lord spoke by Amos the prophet: Your festival days shall be turned into lamentation and mourning.

So when the sun was down, he went and buried him.

Now all his neighbours blamed him, saying: Once already commandment was given for thee to be slain because of this matter, and thou didst scarce escape the sentence of death, and dost thou again bury the dead?

But Tobias fearing God more than the king, carried off the bodies of them that were slain, and hid them in his house, and at midnight buried them.

10 Now it happened one day, that being wearied with burying, he came to his house, and cast himself down by the wall and slept,

11 And as he was sleeping, hot dung out of a swallow's nest fell upon his eyes, and he was made blind.

12 Now this trial the Lord therefore permitted to happen to him, that an example might be given to posterity of his patience, as also of holy Job.

13 For whereas he had always feared God from his infancy, and kept his commandments, he repined not against God because the evil of blindness had befallen him,

14 But continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life.

15 For as the kings insulted over holy Job: so his relations and kinsmen mocked at his life, saying:

16 Where is thy hope, for which thou gavest alms, and buriedst the dead?

17 But Tobias rebuked them, saying: Speak not so:

18 For we are the children of the saints, and look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from him.

19 Now Anna his wife went daily to weaving work, and she brought home what she could get for their living by the labour of her hands.

20 Whereby it came to pass, that she received a young kid, and brought it home:

21 And when her husband heard it bleating, he said: Take heed, lest perhaps it be stolen: restore ye it to its owners, for it is not lawful for us either to eat or to touch any thing that cometh by theft.

22 At these words his wife being angry answered: It is evident thy hope is come to nothing, and thy alms now appear.

23 And with these, and other such like words she upbraided him.

A Family Celebration

(A)When I returned home I was reunited with my wife Anna and my son Tobias. At the Harvest Festival, which is also called the Festival of Weeks, I sat down to a delicious meal. When I saw how much food there was on the table, I said to Tobias,

Son, go out and find one of our people who is living in poverty here in exile, someone who takes God's commands seriously. Bring him back with you, so that he can share this festival meal with us. I won't start eating until you come back.

A Murder in Nineveh

So Tobias went out to look for such a person. But he quickly returned, shouting,
    Father! Father!

Yes, what is it? I asked.

One of our people has just been murdered! Someone strangled him and threw his body into the marketplace.

I jumped up and left the table without even touching my food. I removed the body from the street and carried it to a little shed, where I left it until sunset, when I could bury it. (B)Then I returned home and washed, so as to purify myself. In deep sorrow I ate my dinner. (C)I was reminded of what the prophet Amos had said to the people of Bethel,

Your festivals will be turned into funerals,
    and your glad songs will become cries of grief.

I began to weep.

After sunset I went out, dug a grave, and buried the man. My neighbors thought I was crazy.

Haven't you learned anything? they asked.
You have already been hunted down once for burying the dead, and you would have been killed if you had not run away. But here you are doing the same thing all over again.

Tobit Is Blinded

That night I washed, so as to purify myself, and went out into my courtyard to sleep by the wall. It was a hot night, and I did not pull the cover up over my head. 10 Sparrows were on the wall right above me, but I did not know it. Their warm droppings fell into my eyes, causing a white film to form on them. I went to one doctor after another, but the more they treated me with their medicines, the worse my eyes became, until finally I was completely blind.

For four years I could see nothing. My relatives were deeply concerned about my condition, and Ahikar supported me for two years before he went to the land of Elam.

A Family Quarrel

11 After Ahikar left, my wife Anna had to go to work, so she took up weaving, like many other women. 12 The people she worked for would pay her when she delivered the cloth. One spring day, she cut a finished piece of cloth from the loom and took it to the people who had ordered it. They paid her the full price and also gave her a goat.

13 When Anna came home with the goat, it began to bleat. I called out,
    Where did that goat come from? You stole it, didn't you? Take it straight back to its owners. It's not right to eat stolen food!

14 No! she replied.
It was given to me as a gift in addition to what I got for the cloth. But I didn't believe her, and I blushed for shame for what she had done. I ordered her to return the goat to its owners, but she had the last word.
Now I see what you are really like! she shouted.
Where is all that concern of yours for others? What about all those good deeds you used to do?

Forsooth after these things, when a feast day of the Lord was, and a good meat (or meal) was made in the house of Tobit, he said to his son,

Go thou, and bring some men of our lineage, that dread God, (so) that they (can) eat with us.

And when he, young Tobias, was gone forth, (later) he (re)turned again, and told to his father, that one of the sons of Israel lay strangled in the street; and anon (or at once) Tobit rose up from his sitting place [or and anon starting out (or starting up) from his meat-seat], and left the meat (or the meal), and came fasting to the body;

and he took it, and bare it to his house privily, for to bury him warily [or slyly], when the sun was gone done.

And when he had hid the body, he ate bread with mourning and trembling,

and remembered the word, which the Lord said by Amos, the prophet, Your feast days shall be turned into mourning and lamentation, either wailing [or into wailing and sorrowing].

And when the sun was gone down, Tobit went, and buried him.

Forsooth all his neighbours blamed him, and said, Now for the cause of this thing thou were commanded to be slain, and scarcely thou hast escaped the behest of death, and again thou buriest dead men? [Forsooth all his neighbours reproved him, saying, Now because of this thing thou art commanded to be slain, and scarcely thou hast escaped the commandment of death, and again thou buriest the dead?]

But Tobit dreaded more God than the king, and he took away the bodies of slain men, and hid them in his house, and buried those in the middle of (the) nights. [But Tobit, more dreading God than the king, caught (hold of) the bodies of the slain, and hid in his house, and in the midnights he buried them.]

10 And it befelled, that in (or on) a day Tobit was made weary of (or from) burying dead bodies; and he came home, and laid himself beside a wall, and slept there; [It fell forsooth, that on a day weary of burying, coming home, he had cast himself (down) beside the wall, and had fast slept;]

11 and while he slept, hot turds, or drit, fell down from the nest of swallows upon his eyes; and he was made blind.

12 And therefore the Lord suffered (or allowed) this temptation to befall to him, (so) that the ensample of his patience should be given to (his) after-comers, as also it is of holy Job. [This forsooth temptation therefore the Lord suffered to come to him, that to the after-comers should example be given of his patience, as and of holy Job.]

13 For why when Tobit dreaded God (for)ever(more) from his young childhood, and kept his commandments, he was not sorry, or heavy, or grudging, (or grumbling) against God, for that the sickness of blindness came to him; [And when from his time that he began to speak, evermore he dreaded God, and kept his behests, he sorrowed not against God, that the vengeance of blindness came to him;]

14 but he dwelled unmoveable in the dread of God, and did thankings to God in all the days of his life. [but unmovable in the dread of God abode till, graces doing to God all the days of his life.]

15 For why as kings upbraided saint Job, or blessed Job, so it befelled to this Tobit, that his elders and kinsmen scorned his life, and said,

16 Where is thine hope[a], for which thou didest alms-deeds and buryings?

17 And Tobit blamed them, and said,

18 Do not ye speak so, for we be the sons of holy men, and we abide that life, which God shall give to them that change never their faith from him. [Doeth not so speak, for the sons of hallows we be, and that life we abide, that God is to give to them that their faith nevermore change from him.]

19 And Anna, his wife, went each day to the work of weaving, and she brought home the livelode, [or the lifelode], (or the livelihood) which she might get of (or from) the travail of her hands.

20 Whereof it befell, that she took (or received) a kid of goats, for her weaving, and she brought it home.

21 And when her husband had heard the voice of this kid bleating, he said, Look ye, lest peradventure this kid be gotten of (or from) theft [or lest peradventure it be stolen], but if it so be yieldeth it again (or back) to his lords; for it is not leaveful (or lawful), either to eat either to touch anything of theft.

22 At these words the wife of Tobit was wroth, and answered, Now is openly thine hope made vain, and thine alms-deeds have appeared, that is, feigned and void, as done for hypocrisy. [At these things his wife wroth answered, Openly vain is made thine hope, and thine alms-deed now have appeared.]

23 And by these and other such words she said shame to him. [And in these and in other such manner words she put reproof to him.]

Footnotes

  1. Tobit 2:16 These believed the rewarding of good and of evil is only in present life, as the friends of Job did.