Tobit 3

Then, full of grief, I wept, and in my sorrow I prayed. I said:

1Then I being grieved did weep, and in my sorrow prayed, saying,

2"Lord, you are just, and all your works and all your ways are mercy and truth. You judge truly and justly forever.

2O Lord, thou art just, and all thy works and all thy ways are mercy and truth, and thou judgest truly and justly for ever.

3Remember me, and look at me. Do not punish me for my sins, or for the wrongs I did without knowing, or for the sins of my ancestors, who sinned in your sight.

3Remember me, and look on me, punish me not for my sins and ignorances, and the sins of my fathers, who have sinned before thee:

4For they did not obey your commands. So you handed us over to be plundered, and to captivity, and to death, and to be a byword of shame among all the nations where we have been scattered.

4For they obeyed not thy commandments: wherefore thou hast delivered us for a spoil, and unto captivity, and unto death, and for a proverb of reproach to all the nations among whom we are dispersed.

NoteTobit is speaking as one of the Israelites deported from the northern kingdom by the Assyrians; he is writing from Nineveh. "A proverb of reproach" in the King James means a standing example of disgrace, the name other nations reach for when they want to point at a ruined people.

5And now your judgments are many and true. Deal with me according to my sins and my ancestors' sins, because we have not kept your commands, and have not lived in truth before you.

5And now thy judgments are many and true: deal with me according to my sins and my fathers’: because we have not kept thy commandments, neither have walked in truth before thee.

6So now deal with me in whatever way seems best to you. Give the order for my spirit to be taken from me, so that I may be released and become dust. It is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard lies told against me, and I have much sorrow. So give the order that I may now be set free from this distress and go to the everlasting place. Do not turn your face away from me."

6Now therefore deal with me as seemeth best unto thee, and command my spirit to be taken from me, that I may be dissolved, and become earth: for it is profitable for me to die rather than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and have much sorrow: command therefore that I may now be delivered out of this distress, and go into the everlasting place: turn not thy face away from me.

Note"The everlasting place" translates a Greek phrase for the abode of the dead, the permanent dwelling where everyone who dies goes. Tobit is asking to die, not describing a reward.

7It happened that on that same day, in Ecbatana, a city of Media, Sara the daughter of Raguel was also being insulted by her father's servant girls.

7It came to pass the same day, that in Ecbatane a city of Media Sara the daughter of Raguel was also reproached by her father’s maids;

NoteThe book switches here from Tobit's first-person account to a narrator describing events elsewhere on the same day. Ecbatana was the chief city of Media, in the highlands of what is now western Iran, a long journey east of Nineveh. Sara and her father Raguel are fellow Israelite exiles, and distant relatives of Tobit's family.

8This was because she had been married to seven husbands, and Asmodeus the evil spirit had killed each of them before the marriage was consummated. "Don't you know," they said, "that you are the one who strangles your husbands? You have already had seven husbands, and you have not been named after any one of them.

8Because that she had been married to seven husbands, whom Asmodeus the evil spirit had killed, before they had lain with her. Dost thou not know, said they, that thou hast strangled thine husbands? thou hast had already seven husbands, neither wast thou named after any of them.

NoteAsmodeus is the name of a demon, known in Jewish tradition and often connected with a Persian spirit of rage; the name itself would have carried menace to the first readers. "You have not been named after any one of them" is ambiguous in the Greek: it can mean that Sara never came to bear a husband's name as his wife, since none of the marriages was consummated, or that she bore no child to carry a husband's name forward.

9Why do you beat us because of them? If they are dead, go and follow them. May we never see a son or a daughter from you!"

9Wherefore dost thou beat us for them? if they be dead, go thy ways after them, let us never see of thee either son or daughter.

Note"Go and follow them" means go join them in death. The servants are telling Sara to kill herself.

10When she heard these things she was deeply grieved, so much that she thought about hanging herself. Then she said, "I am my father's only daughter. If I do this, it will bring shame on him, and I will bring his old age down to the grave in sorrow."

10Whe she heard these things, she was very sorrowful, so that she thought to have strangled herself; and she said, I am the only daughter of my father, and if I do this, it shall be a reproach unto him, and I shall bring his old age with sorrow unto the grave.

11Then she prayed at the window and said, "You are blessed, Lord my God, and your holy and glorious name is blessed and honored forever. Let all your works praise you forever.

11Then she prayed toward the window, and said, Blessed art thou, O Lord my God, and thine holy and glorious name is blessed and honourable for ever: let all thy works praise thee for ever.

NotePraying at an open window was the customary posture of Jews living in exile, who turned toward Jerusalem to pray. The detail marks Sara as devout, and mirrors Tobit praying in Nineveh at the same hour.

12And now, Lord, I turn my eyes and my face toward you,

12And now, O Lord, I set mine eyes and my face toward thee,

13and I say: take me out of the earth, so that I may hear these insults no longer.

13And say, Take me out of the earth, that I may hear no more the reproach.

Note"Take me out of the earth" is an idiom for dying: release me from life in this world. She is asking God to end her life, as Tobit did in verse 6.

14You know, Lord, that I am clean of any sin with a man,

14Thou knowest, Lord, that I am pure from all sin with man,

Note"Clean of any sin with a man" is a denial of sexual wrongdoing: Sara is saying she is a virgin and has done nothing that could explain the deaths. It answers the accusation behind the servants' taunts.

15and that I have never stained my own name or my father's name in this land where we live as captives. I am my father's only daughter, and he has no other child to be his heir. He has no close relative, and no living son, for whom I should keep myself as a wife. My seven husbands are already dead. Why should I go on living? But if it does not please you that I should die, then give the order that I be looked on with kindness and pity, so that I hear insults no longer."

15And that I never polluted my name, nor the name of my father, in the land of my captivity: I am the only daughter of my father, neither hath he any child to be his heir, neither any near kinsman, nor any son of his alive, to whom I may keep myself for a wife: my seven husbands are already dead; and why should I live? but if it please not thee that I should die, command some regard to be had of me, and pity taken of me, that I hear no more reproach.

NoteUnder the inheritance customs assumed here, a man with no son passed his property through his daughter, and she was expected to marry within her father's kindred so the family holding stayed in the clan. Sara is saying there is no eligible kinsman left for whom she could be reserved as a wife, which leaves both her future and her father's line with nowhere to go.

16So the prayers of them both were heard in the presence of the majesty of the great God.

16So the prayers of them both were heard before the majesty of the great God.

17And Raphael was sent to heal them both: to peel away the white film from Tobit's eyes, and to give Sara the daughter of Raguel as a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit, and to bind Asmodeus the evil spirit. This was because she belonged to Tobias by right of inheritance. At that very moment Tobit came home and went into his house, and Sara the daughter of Raguel came down from her upstairs room.

17And Raphael was sent to heal them both, that is, to scale away the whiteness of Tobit’s eyes, and to give Sara the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit; and to bind Asmodeus the evil spirit; because she belonged to Tobias by right of inheritance. The selfsame time came Tobit home, and entered into his house, and Sara the daughter of Raguel came down from her upper chamber.

NoteRaphael is an angel whose name means "God heals," which is exactly the errand described here. The "whiteness" of Tobit's eyes is a white film over the eye, like a cataract, which the King James pictures being scaled or peeled off. "By right of inheritance" means Tobias is Sara's nearest eligible kinsman, so the claim to marry her falls to him.