Tobit 2

Revised Standard Version

2 When I arrived home and my wife Anna and my son Tobi′as were restored to me, at the feast of Pentecost, which is the sacred festival of the seven weeks, a good dinner was prepared for me and I sat down to eat. ² Upon seeing the abundance of food I said to my son, “Go and bring whatever poor man of our brethren you may find who is mindful of the Lord, and I will wait for you.” ³ But he came back and said, “Father, one of our people has been strangled and thrown into the market place.” ⁴ So before I tasted anything I sprang up and removed the body^[a] to a place of shelter until sunset. ⁵ And when I returned I washed myself and ate my food in sorrow. ⁶ Then I remembered the prophecy of Amos, how he said,

And I wept.

Tobit Becomes Blind

⁷ When the sun had set I went and dug a grave and buried the body.^{[b] 8} And my neighbors laughed at me and said, “He is no longer afraid that he will be put to death for doing this; he once ran away, and here he is burying the dead again!” ⁹ On the same night I returned from burying him, and because I was defiled I slept by the wall of the courtyard, and my face was uncovered. ¹⁰ I did not know that there were sparrows on the wall and their fresh droppings fell into my open eyes and white films formed on my eyes. I went to physicians, but they did not help me. Ahi′kar, however, took care of me until he^[c] went to Elyma′is.

Tobit’s Wife Earns Their Livelihood

¹¹ Then my wife Anna earned money at women’s work. ¹² She used to send the product to the owners. Once when they paid her wages, they also gave her a kid; ¹³ and when she returned to me it began to bleat. So I said to her, “Where did you get the kid? It is not stolen, is it? Return it to the owners; for it is not right to eat what is stolen.” ¹⁴ And she said, “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; and I blushed for her. Then she replied to me, “Where are your charities and your righteous deeds? You seem to know everything!”