Tobit 14
New Catholic Bible
Tobit’s Prophecy
Chapter 14[a]
1 So ended Tobit’s words of praise. He died peacefully at the age of one hundred and twelve and was buried with much honor in Nineveh. 2 He was sixty-two years old when he lost his eyesight, and after he was cured he lived a happy life, gave alms, and continually blessed God and proclaimed his greatness.
3 Prior to his death, he summoned his son Tobiah and Tobiah’s seven sons, and issued these instructions: 4 “My son, take your children and hasten to Media, for I believe the word of God that Nahum spoke about Nineveh. It will all take place. Everything will happen to Assyria and Nineveh that was spoken by the prophets of Israel sent by God. None of their words will be unfulfilled; everything will occur at the appointed time. You will be safer in Media than in Assyria or Babylon. For I know and believe that whatever God has said will be accomplished. Not a single word of the prophecies will remain unfulfilled.
“All of our kindred who dwell in Israel will be scattered and carried off in exile out of that good land. The whole territory of Israel, even Samaria and Jerusalem, will be desolate. The temple of God there will be burned to the ground, and for a period of time it will be abandoned.[b] 5 However, God will once again have mercy on them and bring them back to the land of Israel. They will rebuild the temple of God, but it will not be comparable to the first one until the period when the appointed times will come. Then they will all return from their captivity and rebuild Jerusalem in splendor. And the temple of God will be rebuilt there, as the prophets of Israel have foretold.
6 “All the nations of the entire world will be converted and offer sincere worship to God. They will all renounce their idols who have deceitfully led them into error, 7 and with justice they will praise the eternal God. All of the Israelites who are spared in those days and remain firmly mindful of God will be gathered together. They will go to Jerusalem and dwell in safety forever in the land of Abraham, which will be given over to them. Those who sincerely love God will rejoice, whereas those who are guilty of sin and wickedness will disappear from the earth.
8 “Now, my children, I give you this injunction. Serve God faithfully and do what is pleasing to him. Teach your children to do what is right and to give alms, to be mindful of God and at all times to bless his name sincerely and with all their strength.
9 “So now, my son, depart from Nineveh; do not remain here. 10 Once you have buried your mother next to me, do not spend even one more night within the confines of this city, where the people are without shame as they engage in wickedness and deceit. Recall, my son, what Nadab[c] did to Ahiqar who had raised him. While still alive, Ahiqar was forced to hide in a grave. However, God’s justice did not allow this disgraceful outrage to remain unpunished, inasmuch as Ahiqar came out again into the light of day, while Nadab descended into eternal darkness because of his attempt on Ahiqar’s life.
“Because Ahiqar gave alms, he managed to escape the deadly trap that Nadab had set for him. However, Nadab himself fell into that trap and was destroyed. 11 So, my children, you can see what almsgiving accomplishes, as well as what wickedness does—it leads to death. But now my breath fails me.”
12 They placed him on his bed, where he died, and he received an honorable burial.
The Last Days of Tobiah
When his mother died, Tobiah buried her beside his father. Then he and his wife and children returned to Media and settled in Ecbatana with his father-in-law Raguel. 13 He treated his wife’s aging parents with great care and respect, and later he buried them in Ecbatana in Media.
Tobiah inherited the estate of Raguel as well as that of his father Tobit. 14 Greatly respected, he died at the age of one hundred and seventeen. 15 Before his death he heard of the destruction of Nineveh and witnessed the exile of the city’s inhabitants whom King Cyaxares[d] of Media had taken captive.
Tobiah praised God for everything he had inflicted on the inhabitants of Nineveh and Assyria. Before his death he rejoiced over the fate of Nineveh, and he blessed the Lord God forever and ever. Amen.
Footnotes
- Tobit 14:1 The end of the Book takes on an apocalyptic tone. Assyria, the persecutor of the chosen people, had already fallen some centuries previously. The author presents the event as a prophecy in the mouth of Tobit whom he makes a contemporary of this time past. In the destruction of empires, he sees a pledge of the power of God capable of restoring his people. Moreover, he also sees the future coming of new times: all the nations will be converted and the Israelites reunited in their homeland, the Holy Land definitively renewed. This is why Tobit counsels his descendants to follow the example of Ahiqar, the celebrated wise man of the East.
- Tobit 14:4 See Nah 2–3; and also Isa 10:12-19. Nineveh fell in 612 B.C. at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians; Samaria, in 721 B.C.; Jerusalem, in 587 B.C. Note that the action of the Book is situated during the apogee of the Assyrian Empire (middle of the seventh century B.C.).
- Tobit 14:10 Nadab: in the Book of Ahiqar, the protagonist is the chancellor for the Assyrian kings Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. As his successor, he grooms his adopted nephew, Nadab, but the latter schemes to have his uncle disgraced and put to death. Ahiqar seeks asylum in a friend’s house and is ultimately vindicated when Nadab’s treachery is uncovered. Nadab is cast into a dungeon where he meets his death. The reason behind Ahiqar’s salvation was his almsgiving.
- Tobit 14:15 Cyaxares established the power of Media by teaming with Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, to subdue the power of Nineveh, which they destroyed in 612 B.C.
Tobit 14
Wycliffe Bible
14 And thus the words of Tobit were ended; and after that he was lightened of his blindness [or after that he is lighted to see], he lived two and forty years, and saw the sons of his son’s sons.
2 And when an hundred years and twain were filled, he was buried worshipfully (or honourably) in Nineveh. [And so fulfilled an hundred years and two, he is buried worshipfully in Nineveh.]
3 For he of six and fifty years lost the light of his eyes; soothly he sixty years eld received that light./Soothly when Tobit was of six and fifty years he lost the light of his eyes; and when he was sixty years (of) age he received his sight again. [Of six and fifty years forsooth he let go the light of eyes; forsooth in the sixtieth year of age he received (it back again).]
4 Forsooth the residue of his life was in joy, and he went in peace with (a) good increasing of God’s dread. [The remnant forsooth of his life was in joy, and with good profit of the dread of God he passed in peace.]
5 And in the hour of his death, he called to him(self) Tobias, his son, and (the) seven young sons of him, his son’s sons, and said to them,
6 The perishing, or (the) destruction, of Nineveh shall be nigh, for the word of God shall not fall away void; and your brethren, that be scattered from the land of Israel, shall (re)turn again to it. [Nigh (or Approaching soon) shall be the destruction of Nineveh, forsooth the word of God falleth not of; and our brethren, that be scattered from the land of Israel, shall be turned again to it.]
7 And all (the) desert land of it shall be full-filled, and the house of God, which is burnt therein, shall be builded again, and all that dread God shall (re)turn again thither. [All forsooth the desert land of it shall be full-filled, and the house of God, that in it was burnt, shall be built again, and thither shall turn again all men dreading God.]
8 And heathen men shall forsake their idols, and they shall come to Jerusalem, and shall inhabit it/and they shall dwell therein. [And Gentiles shall leave their maumets, and they shall come to Jerusalem, and dwell in it.]
9 And all the kings of (the) earth shall have joy therein, and they shall worship the King of Israel. [And there shall joy in it all kings of earth, honouring the king of Israel.]
10 Therefore, my sons, hear ye your father; serve ye the Lord in dread and in truth; and inquire ye to do those things that be pleasant to him. [Heareth then, my sons, your father; serveth to the Lord in dread and in truth; and inwardly seeketh, that ye do that (that) be pleasant to him.]
11 And command ye your sons to do rightwisenesses and alms-deeds; and that they be mindful of God, and bless God in all time, in truth, and in all their virtue or power.
12 Now therefore, my sons, hear ye me, and do not ye dwell here in Nineveh, but in whatever day ye have buried your mother beside me in a sepulchre, from that day (ad)dress (or direct) ye your steps, (so) that ye go out from hence; [Now then, my sons, heareth me, and doeth not dwell here, but whatever day ye bury your mother about me in one burial, from that time (ad)dresseth your goings, that ye go hence;]
13 for I see that the wickedness thereof shall give an end thereto./soothly I see that the wickedness of Nineveh shall bring destruction thereto. [forsooth I see that his (or its) wickedness (an) end shall give to it.]
14 And it was done after the death of his mother, Tobias went away from Nineveh, with his wife, and his sons, and with the sons of his sons, and he (re)turned again to the father and mother of his wife [or to his father- and mother-in-law].
15 And he found them sound in good eld (age). And he did the care of them, and he closed their eyes; and after that he took all the heritage (or all the inheritance) of the house of Raguel, and Tobias saw the fifth generation, the sons of his sons.
16 And when ninety years and nine were fulfilled in the dread of the Lord, they buried him with joy.
17 Forsooth all his kindred, and all his generation, dwelled perfectly in good life, and in holy conversation, so that they were acceptable both to God and to men, and to all inhabiting the earth/and to all that dwelled in (the) earth (or in the land). [All forsooth his kindred, and all his generation, in good life, and in holy conversation, abode still, so that they were accepted both to (or by) God and to (or by) men, and all dwelling in the land.]
2001 by Terence P. Noble