“Beware, my son, of every kind of sexual immorality. First of all, marry a woman from among the descendants of your ancestors; do not marry a foreign woman, who is not of your father’s tribe, for we are the descendants of prophets and true-born sons of prophets. The first prophet was Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob, our ancestors of old. Remember, my son, that these all took wives from among their kindred. They were blessed in their children, and their posterity will inherit the land.

the demon will smell it and flee and will never be seen near her any more. Now when you are about to go to bed with her, both of you must first stand up and pray, imploring the Lord of heaven that mercy and safety may be granted to you. Do not be afraid, for she has always been set apart for you. You will save her, and she will go with you. I know that you will have children by her, and they will be as brothers and sisters to you. Now say no more!” When Tobias heard the words of Raphael and learned that she was his sister, related through his father’s lineage, he loved her very much, and his heart was drawn to her.

Blessed are you because you had compassion on two only children. Be merciful to them, O Master, and keep them safe; bring their lives to fulfillment in happiness and mercy.”

Then he saw them safely off; he embraced Tobias and said to him, “Farewell, my son; have a safe journey. The Lord of heaven prosper you and your wife Sarah, and may I see children of yours before I die.”

Then he said to his daughter Sarah, “My daughter, go to your father-in-law and your mother-in-law, since from now on they are as much your parents as those who gave you birth. Go in peace, daughter, and may I hear a good report about you as long as I live.” Then he bade them farewell and let them go. Then Edna said to Tobias, “My child and dear brother, the Lord of heaven bring you back safely, and may I live long enough to see children from you and of my daughter Sarah before I die. In the sight of the Lord I entrust my daughter to you; do nothing to make her unhappy all the days of your life. Go in peace, my son. From now on I am your mother, and Sarah is your sister. May we all prosper together all the days of our lives.” Then she kissed them both and saw them safely off.

Acknowledge him before the nations, O children of Israel, for he has scattered you among them.

O Jerusalem, the holy city, he afflicted you for the deeds of your hands but will again have mercy on the children of the righteous.

Rejoice, then, and exult over the children of the righteous, for they will all be gathered together and will bless the Lord of the ages.

When he was about to die, he called his son Tobias and his seven children and gave this command: “My son, take your children

“So now, my children, I command you, serve God faithfully and do what is pleasing in his sight. Your children are also to be commanded to do what is right and to give alms and to be mindful of God and to bless his name at all times with sincerity and with all their strength.

So now, my children, see what almsgiving accomplishes and what injustice does—it brings death! But now my breath fails me.”

Death of Tobit and Anna

Then they laid him on his bed, and he died, and he received an honorable funeral.

They and their wives and their children and their cattle and every resident alien and hired laborer and purchased slave—they all put sackcloth around their waists.

And all the Israelite men, women, and children living at Jerusalem prostrated themselves before the temple and put ashes on their heads and spread out their sackcloth before the Lord.

They and their wives and children will waste away with famine, and before the sword reaches them they will be strewn about in the streets where they live.

Their children were listless, and the women and young men fainted from thirst and were collapsing in the streets of the town and in the gateways; they no longer had any strength.

Then all the people, the young men, the women, and the children, gathered around Uzziah and the rulers of the town and cried out with a loud voice and said before all the elders,

For it would be better for us to be captured by them. We shall indeed become slaves, but our lives will be spared, and we shall not witness our little ones dying before our eyes and our wives and children drawing their last breath.

Then he dismissed the people to their various posts, and they went up on the walls and towers of their town. The women and children he sent home. In the town they were in great misery.

You gave up their wives for plunder and their daughters to captivity and all their spoils to be divided among your beloved children who burned with zeal for you and abhorred the pollution of their blood and called on you for help. O God, my God, hear me also, a widow.

Make my deceitful words bring wound and bruise on those who have planned cruel things against your covenant and against your sacred house and against Mount Zion and against the house your children possess.

He boasted that he would burn up my territory and kill my young men with the sword and dash my infants to the ground and seize my children as plunder and take my virgins as spoil.

Sons of female slaves pierced them through and wounded them like the children of fugitives; they perished before the army of my Lord.

Instructions were sent by couriers throughout all the empire of Artaxerxes to destroy the Jewish people in a single day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and to plunder their goods.

Addition B

The King’s Letter

This is a copy of the letter: “The Great King, Artaxerxes, writes the following to the governors of the hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia and to the officials under them: “Having become ruler of many nations and master of the whole world (not elated with presumption of authority but always acting reasonably and with kindness), I have determined to settle the lives of my subjects in lasting tranquility and, in order to make my kingdom peaceable and open to travel throughout all its extent, to restore the peace desired by all people. “When I asked my counselors how this might be accomplished, Haman—who excels among us in sound judgment and is distinguished for his unchanging goodwill and steadfast fidelity and has attained the second place of honor in the kingdom— pointed out to us that among all the nations in the world there is scattered a certain hostile people who have laws contrary to those of every nation and continually disregard the ordinances of kings, so that the unifying of the kingdom that we honorably intend cannot be brought about. We understand that this people, and it alone, stands constantly in opposition to all humanity, perversely following a strange manner of life and laws, and is ill-disposed to our interests, doing all the harm they can so that our kingdom may not attain stability. “Therefore we have decreed that those indicated to you in the letters written by Haman, who is in charge of affairs and is our second father, shall all—wives and children included—be utterly destroyed by the swords of their enemies, without pity or restraint, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, of this present year, so that those who have long been hostile and remain so may in a single day go down in violence to Hades and leave our interests secure and untroubled hereafter.”

For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, plundered, and made slaves—we and our children—male and female slaves. I took no heed, but now our adversary brings shame on the king’s court.”

on a single day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is Adar, throughout all the kingdom of Artaxerxes.

Addition E

The Decree of Artaxerxes

The following is a copy of this letter: “The Great King, Artaxerxes, to the governors of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, and to those who are loyal to our government, greetings. “Many people, the more they are honored with the most generous kindness of their benefactors, the more proud do they become, and not only seek to injure our subjects, but in their inability to stand prosperity, they even undertake to scheme against their own benefactors. They not only take away thankfulness from others, but, carried away by the boasts of those who know nothing of goodness, they even assume that they will escape the evil-hating justice of God, who always sees everything. And often many of those who are set in places of authority have been made in part responsible for the shedding of innocent blood and have been involved in irremediable calamities, by the persuasion of friends who have been entrusted with the administration of public affairs, when these persons by the false trickery of their evil natures beguile the sincere goodwill of their sovereigns. “What has been wickedly accomplished through the pestilent behavior of those who exercise authority unworthily can be seen not so much from the more ancient records that we hand on as from investigation of matters close at hand. In the future we will take care to render our kingdom quiet and peaceable for all, by changing our methods and always judging what comes before our eyes with more equitable consideration. For Haman son of Hammedatha, a Macedonian (really an alien to the Persian blood and quite devoid of our kindliness), having become our guest, enjoyed so fully the goodwill that we have for every nation that he was called our father and was continually bowed down to by all as the person second to the royal throne. But, unable to restrain his arrogance, he undertook to deprive us of our kingdom and our life and with intricate craft and deceit asked for the destruction of Mordecai, our savior and perpetual benefactor, and of Esther, the blameless partner of our kingdom, together with their whole nation. He thought that by these methods he would catch us undefended and would transfer the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedonians. “But we find that the Jews, who were consigned to annihilation by this thrice-accursed man, are not evildoers but are governed by most righteous laws and are children of the living God, most high, most mighty, who has directed the kingdom both for us and for our ancestors in the most excellent order. “You will therefore do well not to put in execution the letters sent by Haman son of Hammedatha, since he, the one who did these things, has been executed at the gates of Susa with all his household—for God, who rules over all things, has speedily inflicted on him the punishment that he deserved. “Therefore post a copy of this letter publicly in every place and permit the Jews to live according to their own customs. And lend them support, so that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, on that very day, they may defend themselves against those who attack them at the time of affliction. For God, who rules over all things, has made this day to be a joy for his chosen people instead of a day of destruction for them. “Therefore you shall observe this with all good cheer as a notable day among your commemorative festivals, so that both now and hereafter it may represent deliverance for us and for those loyal to the Persians but a reminder of destruction for those who plot against us. “Every city and country, without exception, that does not act accordingly shall be destroyed in wrath with spear and fire. It shall be made not only impassable for humans but also most hateful to wild animals and birds for all time.