Tobit 4:3View Full Chapter

³ So he called for his son Tobias, and Tobias came to him. Tobit said to him: “Give me a proper burial. Honor your mother and take care of her as long as she lives. Do what pleases her and don’t grieve her spirit in any matter.

Tobit 5:1View Full Chapter

Azariah (Raphael) travels with Tobias to Media

5 Then Tobias said to his father Tobit, “I will do everything you have commanded me, Father.

Tobit 5:3View Full Chapter

³ Then Tobit said to his son Tobias, “He gave me a signed receipt, and I gave him a handwritten document as well. I divided them in two, and we each took one part, and I deposited one with the money. And now it is twenty years since I deposited this money. So then go find a reliable man who will go with you, and we will pay him for his time until you return. Then you can retrieve this money from Gabael.”

Tobit 5:9View Full Chapter

⁹ So Tobias went in and reported to his father Tobit, saying, “Wow, I’ve found a man from among our relatives the Israelites.”

Tobit said to Tobias, “Call the man in to me, my son, so that I learn who his family is, from which tribe he is, and whether he can be trusted to go with you.”

Tobit 5:10View Full Chapter

¹⁰ So Tobias went out, called Raphael, and said to him, “Young man, my father is calling for you.” Raphael went in, and Tobit was the first to greet him.

Raphael said, “May joy be yours!”

Tobit responded, “What joy can there still be for me? My eyes are useless, and I can’t see the light of heaven. Instead, I lie in darkness just like the dead who no longer see the light. I live among the dead, hearing the sound of human beings without seeing them.”

Raphael said to him, “Take heart! The time is near when God will heal you. Take heart!”

Then Tobit said to him, “My son Tobias wants to go to Media. Brother, can you accompany and guide him? I will pay your wages.”

Raphael said to him, “I’m able to go with him, for I know all the roads and have often traveled to Media and have passed through all its plains. So I’m familiar with its mountains and all its roads.”

Tobit 5:11View Full Chapter

¹¹ Tobit said to him, “Brother, which family and which tribe do you come from? Tell me, brother!”

Tobit 5:12View Full Chapter

¹² The young man answered, “Why do you need to know about my tribe?”

Tobit replied, “I would like to know in all honesty, brother, who your father is and what your name is.”

Tobit 5:14View Full Chapter

¹⁴ Tobit said to him, “May you come in health and safety, brother! Don’t be offended, brother, that I wanted to know the truth about your family. But you happen to be a relative, and you are from a good and honorable heritage. I knew Hananiah and Nathan, the two sons of the great Shemeliah. They used to go with me to Jerusalem. They used to worship with me there and weren’t led astray. Your relatives are good men; you are of good stock, and may you feel welcome for coming here!”

Tobit 5:17View Full Chapter

¹⁷ Tobit answered, “Bless you, brother!”

Then Tobit called his son and said to him, “My child, prepare provisions for the trip and head off with your brother. May God who is in heaven protect you on your way and restore you safely to me. May his angel travel with you and protect you, my child.”

He went to begin his journey, and he kissed his father and mother. Tobit said to him, “Travel safely!”

Tobit 5:18View Full Chapter

¹⁸ His mother began to weep and said to Tobit, “Why have you sent my child away? Isn’t he the staff on which we lean as he comes and goes in our presence?

Tobit 1View Full Chapter

Tobit and his background

1 This scroll is a story told by Tobit. He was the son of Tobiel son of Hananiel son of Aduel son of Gabael son of Raphael son of Raguel, whose family came from Asiel, of the Naphtali tribe. ² In the days of Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians, he was captured in Thisbe, south of Kedesh-naphtali in the upper hills of Galilee, northwest of Hazor and north of Peor.

Tobit’s piety

³ I, Tobit, was trustworthy and behaved righteously during my entire life. I would help support my relatives and others of my country who were captured and taken with me to Nineveh in the country of the Assyrians.

⁴ While I was young and in my own country of Israel, the tribe of my ancestor Naphtali deserted the descendants of my ancestor David and stayed away from Jerusalem, the city chosen from among all the tribes of Israel for offering sacrifices on behalf of all the tribes of Israel. There God’s own dwelling place, the temple, was built and dedicated for use by all future generations. ⁵ Instead, all my relatives and the whole tribe of my ancestor Naphtali would offer sacrifices on all the hills of Galilee to the image of a calf that Israel’s King Jeroboam had set up in Dan.

⁶ I would often go by myself to Jerusalem on religious holidays, as the Law commanded for every Israelite for all time. I would hurry off to Jerusalem and take with me the early produce of my crops, a tenth of my flocks, and the first portion of the wool cut from my sheep. ⁷ I would present these things at the altar to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. I would give the first tenth of my grain, wine, olive oil, pomegranates, figs, and other fruit to the Levites who served in Jerusalem. For six out of seven years, I also brought the cash equivalent of the second tenth of these crops to Jerusalem where I would spend it every year. ⁸ I gave this to orphans and widows, and to Gentiles who had joined Israel. In the third year, when I brought and gave it to them, we would eat together according to the instruction recorded in Moses’ Law, as Deborah my grandmother had taught me (for my father had died and left me an orphan).

⁹ When I became an adult, I married a woman from our clan. Together we had a son, whom I named Tobias.

Tobit rewarded for his piety

¹⁰ After I was taken captive to Assyria and came to Nineveh, all my relatives and fellow Jews there were eating Gentile food. ¹¹ I, however, avoided eating the Gentiles’ food. ¹² Because I kept God in view with all my heart, ¹³ the Most High gave me favor and good standing before Shalmaneser, and I would buy for him everything he needed. ¹⁴ I used to go to Media on business for him until he died. While in the land of Media, I entrusted 570 pounds of silver to Gabael brother of Gabri.

¹⁵ When Shalmaneser died, Sennacherib his son ruled in his place. The roads to Media became dangerous, and I couldn’t travel there any longer.

Tobit is harassed for his pious acts

¹⁶ During the time of Shalmaneser, I gave away a lot of money to my relatives, my fellow Jews. ¹⁷ I gave a portion of my food to the hungry and clothes to the naked. Whenever I saw that the corpse of anyone from my nation had been flung outside the wall of Nineveh, I buried it.

¹⁸ I also buried anyone whom Sennacherib murdered after fleeing home from Judea, at the time when the king of heaven had punished him for all his insulting actions. In his rage Sennacherib killed many Israelites. However, I would take their bodies and bury them secretly. Sennacherib looked for them, but he didn’t find them. ¹⁹ A native Ninevite went to the king and told him that I was the one burying the bodies. So I went into hiding. When I found out that I was being hunted down to be put to death, I fled from the city in fear. ²⁰ All my possessions were seized, and everything of mine became royal property except for my wife Anna and my son Tobias.

²¹ Within forty days Sennacherib was killed by two of his sons, who escaped to the mountains of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became king in his place. He hired Ahikar, my brother Hanael’s son, to be in charge of all the financial accounts of his kingdom and all the king’s treasury records.

²² Ahikar petitioned the king on my behalf, and I returned to Nineveh. Ahikar had been the chief officer, the keeper of the ring with the royal seal, the auditor of accounts, and the keeper of financial records under Assyria’s King Sennacherib. And Esarhaddon promoted him to be second in charge after himself. Ahikar was my nephew and one of my family.