Tobit 3:9-11
New Catholic Bible
9 Just because your husbands are dead is no reason to abuse us. Join them, and may we never live to see any son or daughter of yours!”
10 On that day, deeply distressed, she went in tears to an upper room in her father’s house, intending to hang herself. But then she considered further, thinking: “Perhaps they will reproach my father, saying to him, ‘You had only one beloved daughter, but because of her misfortune she hanged herself.’ Thus I would cause my father in his old age to descend to Hades, overcome with sorrow. It would be far better for me not to hang myself but to beg the Lord to grant that I die so that I will no longer have to listen to these taunts.”
11 Sarah’s Prayer.[a]Then, with hands outstretched toward the window, she offered this prayer:
“Blessed are you, merciful God!
May your name be blessed forever,
and may all your works forever praise you.
Footnotes
- Tobit 3:11 The Vulgate version of this prayer (vv. 13-23) is as follow: “13She said: ‘Blessed is your name, O God of our fathers. When you are angry, you still show mercy, and in the time of tribulation you forgive the sins of those who call upon you. 14To you, O Lord, I turn; on you my eyes are fixed. 15I beg, O Lord, that you will loose me from the bond of this reproach, or else take me away from the earth. 16You know, O Lord, that I have never lusted after any man and have kept my soul clean from shameful desire. 17Neither have I frequented the company of the wanton nor cast my lot with the lovers of dalliance. 18When I consented to take a husband, your law rather than my lust was my rule. 19It seems that I was unworthy of the love of these men, or perhaps they were not worthy of my love. It may be that you were reserving me for another husband, 20for your counsel is beyond human reach. 21But this at least all your worshipers know: there was never a life of trials that did not have its crown; never a distress from which you could not save; never a punishment without a gateway to your mercy. 22For you do not delight in our loss; rather, after a storm you bring a calm and after tears and weeping you fill us with rejoicing. 23May your name, O God of Israel, be blessed forever.’ ”
