The Book of Tobit (Tobias)

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 3 -

The prayer of Tobias, and of Sara, in their several afflictions, are heard by God, and the angel Raphael is sent to relieve them.

Then Tobias sighed, and began to pray with tears,

Saying: Thou art just, O Lord, and all thy judgments are just, and all thy ways mercy, and truth, and judgment:

And now, O Lord, think of me, and take not revenge of my sins, neither remember my offenses, nor those of my parents.

For we have not obeyed thy commandments, therefore are we delivered to spoil and to captivity, and death, and are made a fable, and a reproach to all nations, amongst which thou hast scattered us.

And now, O Lord, great are thy judgments, because we have not done according to thy precepts, and have not walked sincerely before thee:

And now, O Lord, do with me according to thy will, and command my spirit to be received in peace: for it is better for me to die, than to live.

Now it happened on the same day, that Sara daughter of Raguel, in Rages a city of the Medes, received a reproach from one of her father’s servant maids,

Because she had been given to seven husbands, and a devil named Asmodeus had killed them, at their first going in unto her.

So when she reproved the maid for her fault, she answered her, saying: May we never see son, or daughter of thee upon the earth, thou murderer of thy husbands.

Wilt thou kill me also, as thou hast already killed seven husbands? At these words she went into an upper chamber of her house: and for three days and three nights did neither eat nor drink:

But continuing in prayer with tears besought God, that he would deliver her from this reproach.

And it came to pass on the third day, when she was making an end of her prayer, blessing the Lord,

She said: Blessed is thy name, O God of our fathers: who when thou hast been angry, wilt shew mercy, and in the time of tribulation forgivest the sins of them that call upon thee.

To thee, O Lord, I turn my face, to thee I direct my eyes.

I beg, O Lord, that thou loose me from the bond of this reproach, or else take me away from the earth.

Thou knowest, O Lord, that I never coveted a husband, and have kept my soul clean from all lust.

Never have I joined myself with them that play: neither have I made myself partaker with them that walk in lightness.

But a husband I consented to take, with thy fear, not with my lust.

And either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me: because perhaps thou hast kept me for another man.

For thy counsel is not in man’s power.

But this every one is sure of that worshippeth thee, that his life, if it be under trial, shall be crowned: and if it be under tribulation, it shall be delivered: and if it be under correction, it shall be allowed to come to thy mercy.

For thou art not delighted in our being lost: because after a storm thou makest a calm, and after tears and weeping thou pourest in joyfulness.

Be thy name, O God of Israel, blessed for ever.

At that time the prayers of them both were heard in the sight of the glory of the most high God:

And the holy angel of the Lord, Raphael was sent to heal them both, whose prayers at one time were rehearsed in the sight of the Lord.

The prayer of Tobias, and of Sara, in their several afflictions, are heard by God, and the angel Raphael is sent to relieve them.

I was grieved and wept, and prayed in sorrow, saying,

“O Lord, you are righteous, and all your works and all your ways are mercy and truth, and you judge true and righteous judgment forever.

Remember me, and look at me. Don’t take vengeance on me for my sins and my ignorances, and the sins of my fathers who sinned before you.

For they disobeyed your commandments. You gave us as plunder, for captivity, for death, and for a proverb of reproach to all the nations among whom we are dispersed.

Now your judgments are many and true, that you should deal with me according to my sins and the sins of my fathers, because we didn’t keep your commandments, for we didn’t walk in truth before you.

Now deal with me according to that which is pleasing in your sight. Command my spirit to be taken from me, that I may be released, and become earth. For it is more profitable for me to die rather than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and there is much sorrow in me. Command that I be released from my distress, now, and go to the everlasting place. Don’t turn your face away from me.”

The same day it happened to Sarah the daughter of Raguel in Ecbatana of Media, that she also was reproached by her father’s maidservants;

because that she had been given to seven husbands, and Asmodaeus the evil spirit(a) killed them, before they had lain with her. And they said to her, “Do you not know that you strangle your husbands? You have had already seven husbands, and you haven’t borne the name of any one of them.

Why do you scourge us? If they are dead, go your ways with them. Let us never see either son or daughter from you.”

When she heard these things, she was grieved exceedingly, so that she thought about hanging herself. Then she said, “I am the only daughter of my father. If I do this, it will be a reproach to him, and I will bring down his old age with sorrow to the grave.(b)”

Then she prayed by the window, and said, “Blessed are you, O Lord my God, and blessed is your holy and honorable name forever! Let all your works praise you forever!

And now, Lord, I have set my eyes and my face toward you.

Command that I be released from the earth, and that I no longer hear reproach.

You know, Lord, that I am pure from all sin with man,

and that I never polluted my name or the name of my father in the land of my captivity. I am the only daughter of my father, and he has no child that will be his heir, nor brother near him, nor son belonging to him, that I should keep myself for a wife to him. Seven husbands of mine are dead already. Why should I live? If it doesn’t please you to kill me, command some regard to be had of me, and pity taken of me, and that I hear no more reproach.”

The prayer of both was heard before the glory of the great God.

Raphael also was sent to heal them both, to scale away the white films from Tobit’s eyes, and to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit; and to bind Asmodaeus the evil spirit(c); because it belonged to Tobias that he should inherit her. At that very time, Tobit returned and entered into his house, and Sarah the daughter of Raguel came down from her upper chamber.

Footnotes

(a)3:8 Gr. demon.

(b)3:10 Gr. Hades.