Tobit 4

On that day Tobit remembered the money he had left in the care of Gabael at Rages in Media,

1In that day Tobit remembered the money which he had committed to Gabael in Rages of Media,

NoteMedia was the region of northwestern Iran, and Rages was a city near modern Tehran. It lay a very long way east of Nineveh, where Tobit was living as a deportee, which is why recovering the money later takes a journey of weeks. The money had been left with Gabael as a deposit for safekeeping, a normal arrangement in a world without banks.

2and he said to himself, "I have asked to die. Why do I not call my son Tobias, so that I can tell him about the money before I die?"

2And said with himself, I have wished for death; wherefore do I not call for my son Tobias that I may signify to him of the money before I die?

NoteTobit had prayed to die in the previous chapter, after he was blinded and his wife accused him of hypocrisy. The King James "signify to him of the money" means simply to inform him about it.

3So he called him and said, "My son, when I am dead, bury me. Do not look down on your mother. Honor her all the days of your life, do what pleases her, and do not cause her grief.

3And when he had called him, he said, My son, when I am dead, bury me; and despise not thy mother, but honour her all the days of thy life, and do that which shall please her, and grieve her not.

NoteBurial is the running concern of this book: Tobit's own risky work in the opening chapters was burying fellow Israelites whom the Assyrian king had executed and left unburied. To be left unburied was held to be a disgrace to the dead, so a son's duty to bury his parents was a serious obligation, not a sentiment.

4Remember, my son, that she faced many dangers for you when you were in her womb. When she is dead, bury her beside me in one grave.

4Remember, my son, that she saw many dangers for thee, when thou wast in her womb: and when she is dead, bury her by me in one grave.

5My son, keep the Lord our God in mind all your days. Do not set your will on sinning or on breaking his commands. Do what is right your whole life long, and do not follow the ways of wrongdoing.

5My son, be mindful of the Lord our God all thy days, and let not thy will be set to sin, or to transgress his commandments: do uprightly all thy life long, and follow not the ways of unrighteousness.

6For if you deal honestly, what you do will turn out well for you, and for all who live justly.

6For if thou deal truly, thy doings shall prosperously succeed to thee, and to all them that live justly.

7Give to the poor out of what you own. When you give, do not let your eye be envious, and do not turn your face away from any poor person. Then God's face will not be turned away from you.

7Give alms of thy substance; and when thou givest alms, let not thine eye be envious, neither turn thy face from any poor, and the face of God shall not be turned away from thee.

NoteThe King James word is "alms," which comes through Greek eleemosyne, a word built on the word for mercy. It means money, food or goods given to the poor, and it covers the whole practice, not one occasional gift. The King James "let not thine eye be envious" translates an idiom about a grudging or stingy eye, a person who gives while resenting the cost.

8If you have plenty, give to the poor in keeping with that. If you have only a little, do not be afraid to give according to that little.

8If thou hast abundance give alms accordingly: if thou have but a little, be not afraid to give according to that little:

9For in this way you store up a good treasure for yourself for the day when you are in need.

9For thou layest up a good treasure for thyself against the day of necessity.

10Because giving to the poor rescues a person from death, and does not let you come into the darkness.

10Because that alms do deliver from death, and suffereth not to come into darkness.

11For a gift to the poor is a good gift, in the sight of the Most High, for everyone who gives it.

11For alms is a good gift unto all that give it in the sight of the most High.

12Beware of every kind of sexual sin, my son. Above all, take a wife from the family line of your fathers. Do not take a foreign woman as your wife, one who is not from your father's tribe. For we are the children of the prophets, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember, my son, that our fathers from the beginning all married women from their own relatives, and were blessed in their children, and their descendants will inherit the land.

12Beware of all whoredom, my son, and chiefly take a wife of the seed of thy fathers, and take not a strange woman to wife, which is not of thy father’s tribe: for we are the children of the prophets, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: remember, my son, that our fathers from the beginning, even that they all married wives of their own kindred, and were blessed in their children, and their seed shall inherit the land.

Note"Whoredom" renders Greek porneia, a broad word covering sexual conduct outside marriage generally, not prostitution alone. "Strange woman" in 1611 English means a foreign woman, one outside the family and tribe, with no suggestion of odd. "Noe" is the King James spelling of Noah, taken from the Greek form of the name. "Seed" throughout means offspring or descendants. Marrying within the kinship group mattered intensely to Israelites living as deportees in Assyria, where a scattered community could disappear into the surrounding population within a generation.

13So now, my son, love your own people. Do not look down on them in your heart, on the sons and daughters of your people, by refusing to take a wife from among them. For in pride there is ruin and much trouble, and in worthless living there is decay and great lack. Worthless living is the mother of famine.

13Now therefore, my son, love thy brethren, and despise not in thy heart thy brethren, the sons and daughters of thy people, in not taking a wife of them: for in pride is destruction and much trouble, and in lewdness is decay and great want: for lewdness is the mother of famine.

Note"Lewdness" did not mean sexual indecency in 1611 as reliably as it does now; the underlying Greek word means worthlessness or good for nothing behavior, closer to idle bad living than to obscenity. "Want" means lack or poverty. The claim that such living is "the mother of famine" is a proverb about a household wasting itself into hunger.

14Do not let the wages of any man who has worked for you stay with you; hand them over to him at once. If you serve God, he will repay you too. Be careful, my son, in everything you do, and be sensible in the whole way you live.

14Let not the wages of any man, which hath wrought for thee, tarry with thee, but give him it out of hand: for if thou serve God, he will also repay thee: be circumspect my son, in all things thou doest, and be wise in all thy conversation.

NoteIsraelite law required a hired laborer to be paid the same day he worked, because a day laborer had nothing to live on until he was paid. The King James "out of hand" means on the spot, immediately. "Conversation" in 1611 English means the whole conduct of a life, how a person behaves and moves among others, not talk. "Circumspect" means looking carefully around you before you act.

15Do to no one what you yourself hate. Do not drink wine until you are drunk, and do not let drunkenness travel with you on your journey.

15Do that to no man which thou hatest: drink not wine to make thee drunken: neither let drunkenness go with thee in thy journey.

NoteThis is the negative form of the golden rule, phrased as a prohibition rather than a command. It circulated widely in Jewish and Greek moral teaching in this period. The warning about drunkenness on a journey is practical: a traveler on the road was already exposed to robbery and to strangers whose intentions he could not judge.

16Give some of your bread to the hungry, and some of your clothes to those who have none. Give to the poor in keeping with all you have to spare, and do not let your eye be envious when you give.

16Give of thy bread to the hungry, and of thy garments to them that are naked; and according to thine abundance give alms: and let not thine eye be envious, when thou givest alms.

17Pour out your bread at the burial of those who are upright, but give nothing to the wicked.

17Pour out thy bread on the burial of the just, but give nothing to the wicked.

NoteThe Greek can be read two ways and translators still divide. It may mean placing food at the graves of the righteous dead, a widespread custom in the ancient Mediterranean, or it may mean providing the funeral meal for the mourners of an upright person. "The just" means the upright, those who lived rightly.

18Ask advice of everyone who is wise, and do not think little of any advice that is useful.

18Ask counsel of all that are wise, and despise not any counsel that is profitable.

19Bless the Lord your God at all times, and ask him that your ways may be made straight, and that all your paths and plans may go well. For not every nation has good counsel; the Lord himself gives all good things, and he humbles whom he will, as he will. So now, my son, remember my commands, and do not let them be wiped out of your mind.

19Bless the Lord thy God alway, and desire of him that thy ways may be directed, and that all thy paths and counsels may prosper: for every nation hath not counsel; but the Lord himself giveth all good things, and he humbleth whom he will, as he will; now therefore, my son, remember my commandments, neither let them be put out of thy mind.

Note"For every nation hath not counsel" is a compressed and much debated line. The most common reading is that not every nation is given sound guidance, so good counsel is not something a person or people simply possesses. "Alway" is the older form of always. "Put out of thy mind" translates a word meaning blotted or wiped out, as writing is erased from a surface.

20And now I am telling you about the ten talents of silver that I left in the care of Gabael son of Gabrias, at Rages in Media.

20And now I signify this to they that I committed ten talents to Gabael the son of Gabrias at Rages in Media.

NoteA talent was a weight, roughly seventy five pounds, so ten talents of silver was an enormous deposit, the earnings of many working lifetimes. Knowing the size of it explains why Tobit can tell his son in the next verse not to worry about their poverty. Some King James printings read "I signify this to they"; the sense is "to thee," that is, to you.

21And do not be afraid, my son, because we have been made poor. You have great wealth, if you fear God and turn away from every sin and do what pleases him."

21And fear not, my son, that we are made poor: for thou hast much wealth, if thou fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is pleasing in his sight.

Note"Fear God" in this literature means reverence and obedience toward God rather than terror of him. The whole sentence turns on a contrast: the family's visible property is gone, but Tobit calls his son wealthy on other terms.