Tobit 1:3-3:6
New Catholic Bible
The Suffering of the Righteous[a]
Tobit, a Righteous Man Put to the Test
A Model Israelite. 3 I, Tobit, have traveled along the paths of truth and righteousness throughout all the days of my life. I carried out many charitable deeds for my kindred and for those of my people who had been sent into exile with me to Nineveh in the country of the Assyrians. 4 While I was still a youth in my own country, the land of Israel, the whole tribe of my ancestor Naphtali had forsaken the house of David and Jerusalem, even though this city had been designated out of all the tribes of Israel, so that all those tribes might offer their sacrifices in the place where the temple, the dwelling place of God, had been constructed and consecrated for the enduring use of all future generations. 5 All my kindred and the entire house of my ancestor Naphtali used to offer sacrifice on all the mountains of Galilee to the calf that Jeroboam, king of Israel, had erected in Dan.
6 I alone would frequently make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the festivals, in accordance with the everlasting decree prescribed for all Israel. I would hasten to Jerusalem with the firstfruits of the fields and the firstborn of the flocks, the tithes of the cattle, and the first shearings of the sheep. 7 I would present these to the priests, the sons of Aaron, at the altar. To the Levites who were ministering at Jerusalem I would likewise give the tithes of grain, wine, olive oil, pomegranates, figs, and other fruits. In addition, for six consecutive years I would prepare a second tithe in money and bring it each year to disburse in Jerusalem.
8 A third tithe I would distribute among orphans and widows as well as among the converts who were dwelling among the Israelites. Every third year when I brought this third tithe, we would consume it together in accordance with the decree prescribed in the law of Moses and with the commands of Deborah, the mother of my father Tobiel; for when my father died, I was left an orphan.
9 When I achieved manhood, I married a woman named Anna, who was of our own lineage, and she bore me a son whom I named Tobiah.
10 Tobit Deported and Persecuted.[b]After the Exile to Assyria, I came to Nineveh as a captive. All the members of my kindred and of my people ate the food of pagans, 11 but I conscientiously avoided doing so. 12 And because I remained faithful to God with my whole heart, 13 the Most High gave me favor and good standing with Shalmaneser, and I was entrusted with the task of purchasing everything he needed. 14 Until his death I used to travel to Media to buy supplies for him there, and I deposited pouches of money worth ten talents in the care of my kinsman Gabael, son of Gabri, who lived at Rages, in Media. 15 However, when Shalmaneser died and his son Sennacherib[c] succeeded him as king, the roads into Media became dangerous, and so I could no longer travel there.
16 Courage in Burying the Dead. During the reign of Shalmaneser I carried out many charitable deeds for my kindred and my people. 17 I would give my bread to the hungry and my clothing to those in need, and if I saw one of my people who died and had been cast outside the walls of Nineveh, I would bury that person. 18 I also buried those who were put to death by Sennacherib when he fled from Judea during those days of judgment that the king of heaven decreed against him because of his blasphemies. In his anger he slew many Israelites; but I would steal their bodies and bury them, so that Sennacherib would look for them in vain. 19 But a certain citizen of Nineveh told the king that I was the one who was burying them in secret. When I learned that the king was aware of what I was doing and that he wanted to put me to death, I was overcome with fear and fled. 20 Everything that I possessed was seized and confiscated for the royal treasury. Nothing was left to me except for my wife Anna and my son Tobiah.
21 However, less than forty days later the king was murdered by two of his sons, who then fled to the mountains of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon, who succeeded him as king, appointed Ahiqar, the son of my brother Anael, to be in charge of all the revenues of the kingdom, with control of the entire administration.[d] 22 Then Ahiqar took up my cause, and I was allowed to return to Nineveh. Ahiqar had been chief cupbearer, keeper of the seal, administrator, and treasurer under Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and so Esarhaddon had reappointed him. He was a relative of mine—my nephew.
Chapter 2
His Neighbors Deride Tobit’s Generosity. 1 During the reign of Esarhaddon, therefore, I returned home, and my wife Anna and my son Tobiah were restored to me. At our festival of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, an excellent dinner was prepared for me, and I reclined to eat. 2 The table was set for me, and an abundance of food was placed before me. I said to my son Tobiah, “Go out, my child, and find some poor man among our people exiled here in Nineveh. If he is wholeheartedly devoted to God, bring him back with you to share my meal. I will wait for you, my son, until you return.”
3 And so Tobiah went out to search for some poor person of our people. When he returned, he said, “Father!” I replied, “What is it, my son?” “Father,” he answered, “one of our people has been murdered and thrown into the marketplace, and he is still lying there strangled.” 4 I sprang up at once, leaving my dinner without having even tasted it; and I removed the body from the marketplace and put it in one of the rooms until sunset when I would be able to bury it. 5 When I returned, I bathed myself and ate my dinner in sorrow, 6 recalling the words pronounced by the prophet Amos against Bethel:
“I will turn your religious feasts into mourning,
and all your singing into weeping.”
7 And I wept. When the sun had set, I went out, dug a grave, and buried him. 8 My neighbors jeered at me, saying, “Is he still unafraid? Once previously he had been hunted down under the penalty of death for this identical offense; yet here he is, after his escape, once again burying the dead.”
In the Heat of the Trial. 9 That same night, after bathing, I went into the courtyard and lay down to sleep by the courtyard wall, with my face uncovered because of the heat. 10 [e]I was not aware that sparrows were poised on the wall above me. Their warm droppings fell into my eyes, causing white patches to form, and I had to go to the doctors for a cure. But the more they treated my eyes with their ointment, the more my vision was impaired by the white patches, until at last I became completely blind. For four years I remained sightless. All my kindred grieved at my situation, and Ahiqar took care of me for two years, until he departed for Elymais.[f]
11 At that time my wife Anna used to earn money by working in her rooms for payment, spinning wool and weaving cloth. 12 When she delivered what she had made to those who had ordered the work, they would pay her. On the seventh day of the month Dystros,[g] she completed a particular job of weaving and delivered it to her employers. They not only paid her the agreed-upon wages in full but also gave her a young goat for a meal. 13 When the goat entered my house, it began to bleat. I called to my wife and asked, “Where did you get this goat? Perhaps it was stolen. Return it to its owners. We have no right to eat anything stolen.” 14 But she reassured me, “It was given to me as a bonus in addition to my wages.” However, I did not believe her, and I insisted that she return it to its owners. I became very angry over this. She replied, “Where is your almsgiving? Where are your good deeds? Everyone can now see the kind of person you really are!”
Chapter 3
Tobit’s Prayer. 1 With deep distress I groaned and wept aloud. Then, sobbing, I began to pray:
2 “You are just, O Lord,
and all your deeds are just.
All your ways are merciful and true;
you are the judge of the world.
3 And now, O Lord, be mindful of me
and look upon me with favor.
Do not punish me for my sins
or for my unthinking offenses
or those of my ancestors.
“They sinned against you
4 and did not obey your commandments.
Therefore, you have subjected us to pillage, captivity, and death,
to become the talk, the laughingstock, and the object of scorn,
of all the nations among which you have dispersed us.
5 “And your many judgments are true
when you deal with me as my sins deserve
and those of my ancestors.
For we have not kept your commandments,
nor have we walked in truth in your sight.
6 “So now, deal with me as you wish;
command that my life be taken away from me
so that I may be removed from the face of the earth and once again become dust.
For it is better for me to die than to live,
because I have endured undeserved insults,
and I am engulfed in the deepest grief.
“Command, O Lord, that I be delivered from this affliction;
receive me into the eternal abode,[h]
and do not, O Lord, turn your face from me.
For it is better for me to die
than to endure a life of such unrelieved misery
and to be subjected to these insults.”
Footnotes
- Tobit 1:3 Two sequences are juxtaposed. In two different places, two Israelites, two relatives, whose fidelity cannot be placed into doubt, are led to touch the depth of suffering. Even the Old Testament is aware, above all after the Exile, that suffering lies on the path of those who wish to serve God.
- Tobit 1:10 Without any concern for chronology, the author mixes up reigns. He wishes to stress that Tobit remains faithful in spite of any trials; he is an example offered for our meditation. The end of the passage relates to literature: Ahiqar, who is here characterized as a Hebrew and a cousin of Tobit, is the protagonist of the Book (or Wisdom) of Ahiqar, of Assyrian origin, preserved in various redactions and translations, which portrays him as conspicuous for wisdom and probity (see Tob 2:10; 11:18; 14:10; Jud 5:5).
- Tobit 1:15 Sennacherib (705–681 B.C.) was the son of Sargon (722–705 B.C.), but neither one was descended from Shalmaneser.
- Tobit 1:21 The Book of Ahiqar speaks of him as a principal official of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon whom his ungrateful nephew caused to be condemned to death (see Tob 11:18; 14:10); but Ahiqar hid himself, regained his prominence, and punished his nephew.
- Tobit 2:10 Elymais was the Greek name for Elam, which lay between Persia and Babylonia.
- Tobit 2:10 At this point the Vulgate has an additional seven verses that begin as follows: “12The Lord permitted that [Tobit] should undergo this trial so that his patience might be an example to his posterity, like the patience of holy Job. 13For although he had always feared God from his infancy, and kept his commandments, he did not complain against God because the evil of blindness had befallen him. 14Rather, he continued immovable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life. 15For as the kings [i.e., fellow chieftains] taunted holy Job, so his relations and kindred mocked at Tobit’s life, saying: 16‘Where is your hope, for which you gave alms and buried the dead?’ 17But Tobit rebuked them, saying, ‘Do not speak this way; 18for we are children of saints and we await that life that God will give to those who never lack faith in him.’ ”
- Tobit 2:12 The Macedonian month of Dystros corresponded to the Jewish month of Shebat (January–February). For a meal: literally, “for the hearth.” The gift may have been given at the time of some feast in the spring like the Jewish Feast of Purim.
- Tobit 3:6 The author has Tobit use the words of Jonah who wanted to die because God had not destroyed the hated Ninevites (Jon 4:3, 8). In comparable circumstances, Moses (Num 11:15), Elijah (1 Ki 19:4), and Job (Job 7:15) also prayed for death. Eternal abode: a reference to Hades, the abode of the dead from which no one returns (Job 7:9-10; 14:12; Isa 26:14). The fuller revelation of a blessed immortality in the Book of Wisdom was still to come.
