Tobit 3

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

3 Then Tobias sighed, and began to pray with tears,

²Saying: Thou art just, O Lord, and all thy judgments are just, and all thy ways mercy, and truth, and judgment:

³And now, O Lord, think of me, and take not revenge of my sins, neither remember my offenses, nor those of my parents.

⁴For we have not obeyed thy commandments, therefore are we delivered to spoil and to captivity, and death, and are made a fable, and a reproach to all nations, amongst which thou hast scattered us.

⁵And now, O Lord, great are thy judgments, because we have not done according to thy precepts, and have not walked sincerely before thee:

⁶And now, O Lord, do with me according to thy will, and command my spirit to be received in peace: for it is better for me to die, than to live.

⁷Now it happened on the same day, that Sara daughter of Raguel, in Rages a city of the Medes, received a reproach from one of her father's servant maids,

⁸Because she had been given to seven husbands, and a devil named Asmodeus had killed them, at their first going in unto her.

⁹So when she reproved the maid for her fault, she answered her, saying: May we never see son, or daughter of thee upon the earth, thou murderer of thy husbands.

¹⁰Wilt thou kill me also, as thou hast already killed seven husbands? At these words she went into an upper chamber of her house: and for three days and three nights did neither eat nor drink:

¹¹But continuing in prayer with tears besought God, that he would deliver her from this reproach.

¹²And it came to pass on the third day, when she was making an end of her prayer, blessing the Lord,

¹³She said: Blessed is thy name, O God of our fathers: who when thou hast been angry, wilt shew mercy, and in the time of tribulation forgivest the sins of them that call upon thee.

¹⁴To thee, O Lord, I turn my face, to thee I direct my eyes.

¹⁵I beg, O Lord, that thou loose me from the bond of this reproach, or else take me away from the earth.

¹⁶Thou knowest, O Lord, that I never coveted a husband, and have kept my soul clean from all lust.

¹⁷Never have I joined myself with them that play: neither have I made myself partaker with them that walk in lightness.

¹⁸But a husband I consented to take, with thy fear, not with my lust.

¹⁹And either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me: because perhaps thou hast kept me for another man.

²⁰For thy counsel is not in man's power.

²¹But this every one is sure of that worshippeth thee, that his life, if it be under trial, shall be crowned: and if it be under tribulation, it shall be delivered: and if it be under correction, it shall be allowed to come to thy mercy.

²²For thou art not delighted in our being lost: because after a storm thou makest a calm, and after tears and weeping thou pourest in joyfulness.

²³Be thy name, O God of Israel, blessed for ever.

²⁴At that time the prayers of them both were heard in the sight of the glory of the most high God:

²⁵And the holy angel of the Lord, Raphael was sent to heal them both, whose prayers at one time were rehearsed in the sight of the Lord.

'Tobit 3 ' not found for the version: Amplified Bible.

Tobit 3

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 3

Tobit’s Prayer. ¹With deep distress I groaned and wept aloud. Then, sobbing, I began to pray:

²“You are just, O Lord,
    and all your deeds are just.
All your ways are merciful and true;
    you are the judge of the world.
³And now, O Lord, be mindful of me
    and look upon me with favor.
Do not punish me for my sins
    or for my unthinking offenses
    or those of my ancestors.
“They sinned against you
⁴and did not obey your commandments.
Therefore, you have subjected us to pillage, captivity, and death,
    to become the talk, the laughingstock, and the object of scorn,
    of all the nations among which you have dispersed us.
⁵“And your many judgments are true
    when you deal with me as my sins deserve
    and those of my ancestors.
For we have not kept your commandments,
    nor have we walked in truth in your sight.
⁶“So now, deal with me as you wish;
    command that my life be taken away from me
    so that I may be removed from the face of the earth and once again become dust.
For it is better for me to die than to live,
    because I have endured undeserved insults,
    and I am engulfed in the deepest grief.
“Command, O Lord, that I be delivered from this affliction;
    receive me into the eternal abode,^[a]
    and do not, O Lord, turn your face from me.
For it is better for me to die
    than to endure a life of such unrelieved misery
    and to be subjected to these insults.”

Sarah: Innocence Diabolically Offended^[b]

Sarah’s Misfortune.^[c] ⁷On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel,^[d] had to endure the insults of one of her father’s maids. ⁸For she had been married to seven husbands, but the wicked demon Asmodeus had slain each of them before the marriage had been consummated as is customary. The servant girl said to her, “You are the one who has slain your husbands! Behold, you have already been given in marriage seven times, but you have experienced no joy with any of your husbands. ⁹Just because your husbands are dead is no reason to abuse us. Join them, and may we never live to see any son or daughter of yours!”

¹⁰On that day, deeply distressed, she went in tears to an upper room in her father’s house, intending to hang herself. But then she considered further, thinking: “Perhaps they will reproach my father, saying to him, ‘You had only one beloved daughter, but because of her misfortune she hanged herself.’ Thus I would cause my father in his old age to descend to Hades, overcome with sorrow. It would be far better for me not to hang myself but to beg the Lord to grant that I die so that I will no longer have to listen to these taunts.”

¹¹Sarah’s Prayer.^[e]Then, with hands outstretched toward the window, she offered this prayer:

“Blessed are you, merciful God!
    May your name be blessed forever,
    and may all your works forever praise you.
¹²“And now, O Lord, I turn my face toward you
    and raise my eyes to you.
¹³Command that I be delivered from the earth,
    never again to endure such reproaches.
¹⁴“You know, O Master, that I am innocent
    of an act of impurity with any man,
¹⁵and that I have never dishonored my name
    or the name of my father in this land of exile.
“I am the only child of my father,
    and he has no other child to be his heir.
Neither does he have a close relative or other kindred as a potential bridegroom
    for whom I should stay alive.
I have already suffered the loss of seven husbands.
    Why then should I want to live any longer?
However, if it is not your will, O Lord, to take my life,
    then look on me with pity
    and never again permit me to hear these insults.”

¹⁶An Answer to Prayer.^[f]At that very moment the prayer of both these petitioners was heard in the glorious presence of God, ¹⁷and Raphael^[g] was sent to heal them both. He was to remove the white patches from Tobit’s eyes so that he might once again behold God’s light with his own eyes, and he was to give Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, in marriage to Tobiah, son of Tobit, and then free her from the wicked demon Asmodeus. For Tobiah had the right to claim her in marriage before any other suitor.

At the very moment that Tobit returned from the courtyard to his house, Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, descended from her upper room.

Footnotes

Tobit 3:6 The author has Tobit use the words of Jonah who wanted to die because God had not destroyed the hated Ninevites (Jon 4:3, 8). In comparable circumstances, Moses (Num 11:15), Elijah (1 Ki 19:4), and Job (Job 7:15) also prayed for death. Eternal abode: a reference to Hades, the abode of the dead from which no one returns (Job 7:9-10; 14:12; Isa 26:14). The fuller revelation of a blessed immortality in the Book of Wisdom was still to come.
Tobit 3:7 The story of Tobit is brusquely interrupted. In a second sequence, the author introduces a new and unexpected personage.
Tobit 3:7 In the ancient East, sicknesses and sometimes even death were attributed to the wickedness of a demon, here called Asmodeus, “the destroyer” (even though he is not related to Asmadaeva, the worst demon of Avesta, the sacred book of the Persians).
Tobit 3:7 Raguel: cousin of Tobit (see Tob 7:2). Ecbatana was the capital of the middle kingdom (the contemporary Hamadan in Iran).
Tobit 3:11 The Vulgate version of this prayer (vv. 13-23) is as follow: “¹³She said: ‘Blessed is your name, O God of our fathers. When you are angry, you still show mercy, and in the time of tribulation you forgive the sins of those who call upon you. ¹⁴To you, O Lord, I turn; on you my eyes are fixed. ¹⁵I beg, O Lord, that you will loose me from the bond of this reproach, or else take me away from the earth. ¹⁶You know, O Lord, that I have never lusted after any man and have kept my soul clean from shameful desire. ¹⁷Neither have I frequented the company of the wanton nor cast my lot with the lovers of dalliance. ¹⁸When I consented to take a husband, your law rather than my lust was my rule. ¹⁹It seems that I was unworthy of the love of these men, or perhaps they were not worthy of my love. It may be that you were reserving me for another husband, ²⁰for your counsel is beyond human reach. ²¹But this at least all your worshipers know: there was never a life of trials that did not have its crown; never a distress from which you could not save; never a punishment without a gateway to your mercy. ²²For you do not delight in our loss; rather, after a storm you bring a calm and after tears and weeping you fill us with rejoicing. ²³May your name, O God of Israel, be blessed forever.’ ”
Tobit 3:16 Is the cry of the righteous who are afflicted heard by God? The author lets us in on the secret: God is neither indifferent nor absent; his Providence disposes everything for the good of those who love him. Through the intermediary of an angel, Raphael—that is, “God heals”—his Providence intervenes in favor of his two suffering children.
Tobit 3:17 Raphael: an angel, whose name means “God heals.”