Courage in Burying the Dead

¹⁶ In the days of Shalmaneser^[a] I performed many acts of charity to my kindred, those of my tribe. ¹⁷ I would give my food to the hungry and my clothing to the naked; and if I saw the dead body of any of my people thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I would bury it. ¹⁸ I also buried any whom King Sennacherib put to death when he came fleeing from Judea in those days of judgment that the king of heaven executed upon him because of his blasphemies. For in his anger he put to death many Israelites; but I would secretly remove the bodies and bury them. So when Sennacherib looked for them he could not find them.

¹⁶ Give some of your food to the hungry, and some of your clothing to the naked. Give all your surplus as alms, and do not let your eye begrudge your giving of alms. ¹⁷ Place your bread on the grave of the righteous, but give none to sinners.

2 Then during the reign of Esar-haddon^[a] 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. ² When the table was set for me and an abundance of food placed before me, I said to my son Tobias, “Go, my child, and bring whatever poor person you may find of our people among the exiles in Nineveh, who is wholeheartedly mindful of God,^[b] and he shall eat together with me. I will wait for you, until you come back.” ³ So Tobias went to look for some poor person of our people. When he had returned he said, “Father!” And I replied, “Here I am, my child.” Then he went on to say, “Look, father, one of our own people has been murdered and thrown into the market place, and now he lies there strangled.” ⁴ Then I sprang up, left the dinner before even tasting it, and removed the body^[c] from the square^[d] and laid it^[e] in one of the rooms until sunset when I might bury it.^{[f] 5} When I returned, I washed myself and ate my food in sorrow. ⁶ Then I remembered the prophecy of Amos, how he said against Bethel,^[g]

And I wept.

Tobit Becomes Blind

⁷ When the sun had set, I went and dug a grave and buried him. ⁸ 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!”

Raphael’s Exhortation

⁶ Then Raphael^[a] called the two of them privately and said to them, “Bless God and acknowledge him in the presence of all the living for the good things he has done for you. Bless and sing praise to his name. With fitting honor declare to all people the deeds^[b] of God. Do not be slow to acknowledge him. ⁷ It is good to conceal the secret of a king, but to acknowledge and reveal the works of God, and with fitting honor to acknowledge him. Do good and evil will not overtake you. ⁸ Prayer with fasting^[c] is good, but better than both is almsgiving with righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than wealth with wrongdoing.^[d] It is better to give alms than to lay up gold. ⁹ For almsgiving saves from death and purges away every sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life, ¹⁰ but those who commit sin and do wrong are their own worst enemies.

¹³ And that time when you did not hesitate to get up and leave your dinner to go and bury the dead, ¹⁴ I was sent to you to test you. And at the same time God sent me to heal you and Sarah your daughter-in-law. ¹⁵ I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord.”