Tobit 2

When I came home again, and my wife Anna and my son Tobias were given back to me, it was the feast of Pentecost, the holy feast of the seven weeks. A good dinner was prepared for me, and I sat down to eat.

1Now when I was come home again, and my wife Anna was restored unto me, with my son Tobias, in the feast of Pentecost, which is the holy feast of the seven weeks, there was a good dinner prepared me, in the which I sat down to eat.

NotePentecost is the Greek name, meaning "fiftieth," for the Hebrew feast of Weeks: a one day harvest festival held seven weeks, fifty days, after Passover. Hence "the holy feast of the seven weeks." Tobit is speaking as a deported Israelite living in Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, and the family being "restored" to him refers to the end of his time in hiding, told in the previous chapter.

2When I saw how much food there was, I said to my son, "Go and bring back any poor man you can find among our own people, one who keeps the Lord in mind. Look, I will wait for you."

2And when I saw abundance of meat, I said to my son, Go and bring what poor man soever thou shalt find out of our brethren, who is mindful of the Lord; and, lo, I tarry for thee.

NoteIn 1611 English "meat" meant food of any kind, not flesh specifically, so "abundance of meat" is simply a large spread. "Our brethren" means fellow Israelites among the deportees, and inviting a poor countryman to share a festival meal was a customary act of charity on a feast day.

3But he came back and said, "Father, one of our nation has been strangled, and his body has been thrown out in the marketplace."

3But he came again, and said, Father, one of our nation is strangled, and is cast out in the marketplace.

NoteThe body has been left lying in the open. Under Assyrian practice an executed man could be denied burial as an added punishment, and to a Jew leaving a corpse exposed was a grave dishonor; burying the abandoned dead is the risk Tobit keeps taking throughout this book.

4Then, before I had tasted any of the food, I jumped up and carried the man into a room in my house, and kept him there until the sun went down.

4Then before I had tasted of any meat, I started up, and took him up into a room until the going down of the sun.

NoteHe waits for dark because burying the king's victims was forbidden and punishable by death, as verse 8 recalls. Carrying the body into the house is itself a risk, since a corpse under the roof made the whole household ritually unclean.

5Then I came back, washed myself, and ate my food in sorrow.

5Then I returned, and washed myself, and ate my meat in heaviness,

NoteThe washing is ritual, not hygienic. Contact with a dead body left a person unclean for a set period under Israelite law, and washing was the first step in becoming clean again.

6I remembered that prophecy of Amos, where he said, "Your feasts will be turned into mourning, and all your happy songs into weeping."

6Remembering that prophecy of Amos, as he said, Your feasts shall be turned into mourning, and all your mirth into lamentation.

NoteThe quotation is from the prophet Amos, chapter 8 verse 10. "Mirth" and "lamentation" are the festival songs and the wailing at a funeral: the two opposite kinds of public noise.

7So I wept. And after the sun had gone down, I went out, dug a grave, and buried him.

7Therefore I wept: and after the going down of the sun I went and made a grave, and buried him.

NoteThe KJV phrase "made a grave" means dug one, not built a monument.

8But my neighbors mocked me and said, "This man is still not afraid of being put to death over this. He ran away once, and look, here he is burying the dead again."

8But my neighbours mocked me, and said, This man is not yet afraid to be put to death for this matter: who fled away; and yet, lo, he burieth the dead again.

NoteThe neighbors are referring back to chapter 1, where Tobit buried men the Assyrian king had killed, was reported, and had to flee for his life until that king's death. Their point is that he learned nothing from nearly being executed.

9That same night I came back from the burial and slept beside the wall of my courtyard. I was unclean, and my face was uncovered.

9The same night also I returned from the burial, and slept by the wall of my courtyard, being polluted and my face was uncovered:

Note"Polluted" is the older English word for ritually unclean, the state that handling a corpse put him in; it carries no suggestion of filth or of wrongdoing. An unclean person kept away from the household living space, which is why he sleeps outside against the courtyard wall rather than indoors.

10I did not know there were sparrows in the wall. My eyes were open, and the sparrows dropped warm droppings into my eyes, and a whiteness came over them. I went to the doctors, but they did not help me. Achiacharus took care of my needs until I went to Elymais.

10And I knew not that there were sparrows in the wall, and mine eyes being open, the sparrows muted warm dung into mine eyes, and a whiteness came in mine eyes: and I went to the physicians, but they helped me not: moreover Achiacharus did nourish me, until I went into Elymais.

Note"Muted" is an old term for a bird's dropping of dung. The "whiteness" is a white film spreading over the eyes, the ancient description of a blinding condition such as cataract or scarring of the cornea. Achiacharus, better known as Ahikar, is introduced in chapter 1 as Tobit's nephew and a senior official at the Assyrian court; the story of Ahikar circulated widely in the ancient Near East as a tale in its own right. "Did nourish me" means supported him, paid his keep. Elymais is Elam, the region east of the Tigris in what is now southwestern Iran.

11And my wife Anna took in work of the kind women do.

11And my wife Anna did take women’s works to do.

Note"Women's works" is paid piecework done at home, spinning and weaving cloth for others, one of the few ways a woman could earn wages. The household now lives on her income because Tobit is blind.

12When she had sent the finished work back to the people it belonged to, they paid her wages and also gave her a young goat.

12And when she had sent them home to the owners, they paid her wages, and gave her also besides a kid.

NoteA young goat was a substantial gift, worth considerably more than a day's wage, which is exactly why Tobit finds it suspicious.

13When it was in my house and started to bleat, I said to her, "Where did this goat come from? Is it stolen? Give it back to its owners. It is not lawful to eat anything that is stolen."

13And when it was in my house, and began to cry, I said unto her, From whence is this kid? is it not stolen? render it to the owners; for it is not lawful to eat any thing that is stolen.

NoteTobit's objection rests on the rule that stolen property remains the owner's, so eating it would make the household party to the theft. His scruple is legal, not squeamish.

14But she answered me, "It was given to me as a gift, on top of my wages." Still, I did not believe her, and I told her to give it back to its owners, and I was ashamed because of her. But she answered me, "Where are your gifts to the poor and your good deeds? Look, everyone can see what you and all your works are really like."

14But she replied upon me, It was given for a gift more than the wages. Howbeit I did not believe her, but bade her render it to the owners: and I was abashed at her. But she replied upon me, Where are thine alms and thy righteous deeds? behold, thou and all thy works are known.

Note"I was abashed at her" means he was embarrassed on her account, ashamed of what he took her to have done. Her reply is deliberately barbed and can be read more than one way: either "so much for your charity and your good deeds" as plain sarcasm, or "everyone can see what your righteousness has actually come to," a jab at his blindness and poverty. The Greek is ambiguous, and some manuscripts sharpen it further to "it is known what has become of you." "Alms" are gifts of money or food to the poor, the practice Tobit is praised for in chapter 1.