Tobit’s Prayer
3 Then in my grief I wept, and I prayed in anguish, saying, 2 “Righteous art thou, O Lord; all thy deeds and all thy ways are mercy and truth, and thou dost render true and righteous judgment for ever. 3 Remember me and look favorably upon me; do not punish me for my sins and for my unwitting offenses and those which my fathers committed before thee. 4 For they disobeyed thy commandments, and thou gavest us over to plunder, captivity, and death; thou madest us a byword of reproach in all the nations among which we have been dispersed. 5 And now thy many judgments are true in exacting penalty from me for my sins and those of my fathers, because we did not keep thy commandments. For we did not walk in truth before thee. 6 And now deal with me according to thy pleasure; command my spirit to be taken up, that I may depart and become dust. For it is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and great is the sorrow within me. Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode; do not turn thy face away from me.”
Sarah Falsely Accused
7 On the same day, at Ecbat′ana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Rag′uel, was reproached by her father’s maids, 8 because she had been given to seven husbands, and the evil demon Asmode′us had slain each of them before he had been with her as his wife. So the maids[a] said to her, “Do you not know that you strangle your husbands? You already have had seven and have had no benefit from[b] any of them. 9 Why do you beat us? If they are dead, go with them! May we never see a son or daughter of yours!”
Sarah’s Prayer for Death
10 When she heard these things she was deeply grieved, even to the thought of hanging herself. But she said, “I am the only child of my father; if I do this, it will be a disgrace to him, and I shall bring his old age down in sorrow to the grave.”[c] 11 So she prayed by her window and said, “Blessed art thou, O Lord my God, and blessed is thy holy and honored name for ever. May all thy works praise thee for ever. 12 And now, O Lord, I have turned my eyes and my face toward thee. 13 Command that I be released from the earth and that I hear reproach no more. 14 Thou knowest, O Lord, that I am innocent of any sin with man, 15 and that I did not stain my name or the name of my father in the land of my captivity. I am my father’s only child, and he has no child to be his heir, no near kinsman or kinsman’s[d] son for whom I should keep myself as wife. Already seven husbands of mine are dead. Why should I live? But if it be not pleasing to thee to take my life, command that respect be shown to me and pity be taken upon me, and that I hear reproach no more.”[e]
An Answer to Prayer
16 The prayer of both was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God. 17 And Raph′ael[f] was sent to heal the two of them: to scale away the white films of Tobit’s eyes; to give Sarah the daughter of Rag′uel in marriage to Tobi′as the son of Tobit, and to bind Asmode′us the evil demon, because Tobi′as was entitled to possess her. At that very moment Tobit returned and entered his house and Sarah the daughter of Rag′uel came down from her upper room.
Footnotes
- Tobit 3:8 Gk they
- Tobit 3:8 Other authorities read have not borne the name of
- Tobit 3:10 Gk to Hades
- Tobit 3:15 Gk his
- 3.11-15 The Vulgate version of this prayer (verses 13-23) reads as follows: “13 She said: Blessed is thy name, O God of our fathers: who when thou hast been angry wilt show mercy, and in the time of tribulation forgivest the sins of them that call upon thee. 14 To thee, O Lord, I turn my face, to thee I direct my eyes. 15 1 beg, O Lord, that thou loose me from the bond of this reproach, or else take me away from the earth. 16 Thou knowest, O Lord, that I never coveted a husband, and have kept my soul clean from all lust. 17 Never have I joined myself with them that play; neither have I made myself partaker with them that walk in lightness. 18 But a husband I consented to take, with thy fear, not with my lust. 19 And either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me: because perhaps thou hast kept me for another man, 20 for thy counsel is not in man’s power. 21 But 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. 22 For 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. 23 Be thy name, O God of Israel, blessed for ever.”
- Tobit 3:17 Other authorities read the great Raph′ael. And he