Tobit 1:17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 I would give my food to the hungry and my clothing to the naked, and if I saw the dead body of any of my nation thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I would bury it.(A)
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Tobit 3:1-6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Tobit’s Prayer
3 Then with much grief and anguish of heart I wept, and with groaning I began to pray:
2 “You are righteous, O Lord,
and all your deeds are just;
all your ways are mercy and truth;
you judge the world.[a](A)
3 And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me
and look favorably upon me.
Do not punish me for my sins
or for my unwitting offenses
or for those of my ancestors.
They sinned against you(B)
4 and disobeyed your commandments.
So you gave us over to plunder, exile, and death,
to become the talk, the byword, and an object of reproach
among all the nations among whom you have dispersed us.(C)
5 And now your many judgments are true
in dealing with me according to my sins.
For we have not kept your commandments
and have not walked in accordance with truth before you.
6 So now deal with me as you will;
command my spirit to be taken from me,
so that I may be released from the face of the earth and become dust.
For it is better for me to die than to live,
because I have had to listen to undeserved insults,
and great is the sorrow that attends me.
Command, O Lord, that I be released from this distress;
release me to go to the place of eternity,
and do not, O Lord, turn your face away from me.
For it is better for me to die
than to see so much distress in my life
and better not to listen to insults.”(D)
Footnotes
- 3.2 Other ancient authorities read you render true and righteous judgment forever
Tobit 3:11-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
11 At that same time, with hands outstretched toward the window, she prayed and said,
“Blessed are you, merciful God!
Blessed is your name[a] forever;
let all your works bless you forever.(A)
12 And now,[b] my face is toward you,
and I have raised my eyes.(B)
13 Command that I be released from the earth
and not listen to such reproaches any more.
14 You know, O Master, that I am innocent[c]
of any defilement with a man
15 and that I have not disgraced my name
or the name of my father in the land of my exile.
I am my father’s only child;
he has no other child to be his heir,
and he has no close relative or other kindred
for whom I should keep myself as wife.
Already seven husbands of mine have died.
Why should I still live?
But if it is not pleasing to you, O Lord, to take my life,
hear me in my disgrace.”
Acts 10:4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.(A)
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.