Tobit 2:9-3:6
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
9 On the same night I returned from burying him, and because I was defiled I slept by the wall of the courtyard, and my face was uncovered. 10 I did not know that there were sparrows on the wall and their fresh droppings fell into my open eyes and white films formed on my eyes. I went to physicians, but they did not help me. Ahi′kar, however, took care of me until he[a] went to Elyma′is.[b]
Tobit’s Wife Earns Their Livelihood
11 Then my wife Anna earned money at women’s work. 12 She used to send the product to the owners. Once when they paid her wages, they also gave her a kid; 13 and when she returned to me it began to bleat. So I said to her, “Where did you get the kid? It is not stolen, is it? Return it to the owners; for it is not right to eat what is stolen.” 14 And she said, “It was given to me as a gift in addition to my wages.” But I did not believe her, and told her to return it to the owners; and I blushed for her. Then she replied to me, “Where are your charities and your righteous deeds? You seem to know everything!”
Tobit’s Prayer
3 Then in my grief I wept, and I prayed in anguish, saying, 2 “Righteous art thou, O Lord; all thy deeds and all thy ways are mercy and truth, and thou dost render true and righteous judgment for ever. 3 Remember me and look favorably upon me; do not punish me for my sins and for my unwitting offenses and those which my fathers committed before thee. 4 For they disobeyed thy commandments, and thou gavest us over to plunder, captivity, and death; thou madest us a byword of reproach in all the nations among which we have been dispersed. 5 And now thy many judgments are true in exacting penalty from me for my sins and those of my fathers, because we did not keep thy commandments. For we did not walk in truth before thee. 6 And now deal with me according to thy pleasure; command my spirit to be taken up, that I may depart and become dust. For it is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and great is the sorrow within me. Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode; do not turn thy face away from me.”
Footnotes
- Tobit 2:10 Other authorities read I
- 2.10 Vulgate adds (verses 12-18): “12 Now this trial the Lord therefore permitted to happen to him, that an example might be given to posterity of his patience, as also of holy Job. 13 For whereas he had always feared God from his infancy, and kept his commandments, he repined not against God because the evil of blindness had befallen him, 14 but continued immovable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life. 15 For as the kings insulted over holy Job, so his relations and kinsmen mocked at his life, saying: 16 Where is thy hope, for which thou gavest alms, and buriedst the dead? 17 But Tobias rebuked them, saying, Speak not so; 18 for we are the children of saints, and look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from him.”
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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