Tobit (Douay: Tobias) 8

¹ When they had finished their supper, they brought Tobias in to her.

² But as he went, he remembered the words of Raphael, and took the ashes of the incense, and put the heart and the liver of the fish on them, and made smoke with them.

³ When the demon smelled that smell, it fled into the uppermost parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him.

⁴ But after they were both shut in together, Tobias rose up from the bed, and said, “Sister, arise, and let’s pray that the Lord may have mercy on us.”

⁵ And Tobias began to say, “Blessed are you, O God of our fathers, and blessed is your holy and glorious name forever. Let the heavens bless you, and all your creatures.

⁶ You made Adam, and gave him Eve his wife for a helper and support. From them came the seed of men. You said, it is not good that the man should be alone. Let’s make him a helper like him.

⁷ And now, O Lord, I take not this my sister for lust, but in truth. Command that I may find mercy and grow old with her.”

⁸ She said with him, “Amen.” And they both slept that night.

⁹ Raguel arose, and went and dug a grave,

¹⁰ saying, “Lest he also should die.”

¹¹ And Raguel came into his house,

¹² and said to Edna his wife, “Send one of the maidservants, and let them see if he is alive. If not, we will bury him, and no man will know it.”

¹³ So the maidservant opened the door, and went in, and found them both sleeping,

¹⁴ and came out, and told them that he was alive.

¹⁵ Then Raguel blessed God, saying, “Blessed are you, O God, with all pure and holy blessing! Let your saints bless you, and all your creatures! Let all your angels and your elect bless you forever!

¹⁶ Blessed are you, because you have made me glad; and it has not happened to me as I suspected; but you have dealt with us according to your great mercy.

¹⁷ Blessed are you, because you have had mercy on two that were the only begotten children of their parents. Show them mercy, O Lord. Fulfill their life in health with gladness and mercy.

¹⁸ He commanded his servants to fill the grave.

¹⁹ He kept the wedding feast for them fourteen days.

²⁰ Before the days of the wedding feast were finished, Raguel sware to him, that he should not depart till the fourteen days of the wedding feast were fulfilled;

²¹ and that then he should take half of his goods, and go in safety to his father; and the rest, said he, when my wife and I die.

¹ AAnd after they had supped, they brought in the young man to her.

² And Tobias remembering the angel’s word, took out of his bag part of the liver, and laid it upon burning coals.

³ Then the angel Raphael took the devil, and bound him in the desert of upper Egypt.

⁴ Then Tobias exhorted the virgin, and said to her: Sara, arise, and let us pray to God to day, and to morrow, and the next day: because for these three nights we are joined to God: and when the third night is over, we will be in our own wedlock.

⁵ For we are the children of saints, and we must not be joined together like heathens that know not God.

⁶ So they both arose, and prayed earnestly both together that health might be given them,

⁷ And Tobias said: Lord God of our fathers, may the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains, and the rivers, and all thy creatures that are in them, bless thee.

⁸ Thou madest Adam of the slime of the earth, and gavest him Eve for a helper.

⁹ And now, Lord, thou knowest, that not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but only for the love of posterity, in which thy name may be blessed for ever and ever.

¹⁰ Sara also said: Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, and let us grow old both together in health.

¹¹ And it came to pass about the cockcrowing, Raguel ordered his servants to be called for, and they went with him together to dig a grave.

¹² For he said: Lest perhaps it may have happened to him, in like manner as it did to the other seven husbands, that went in unto her.

¹³ And when they had prepared the pit, Raguel went back to his wife, and said to her:

¹⁴ Send one of thy maids, and let her see if he be dead, that I may bury him before it be day.

¹⁵ So she sent one of her maidservants, who went into the chamber, and found them safe and sound, sleeping both together.

¹⁶ And returning she brought the good news: and Raguel and Anna his wife blessed the Lord,

¹⁷ And said: We bless thee, O Lord God of Israel, because it hath not happened as we suspected.

¹⁸ For thou hast shewn thy mercy to us, and hast shut out from us the enemy that persecuted us.

¹⁹ And thou hast taken pity upon two only children. Make them, O Lord, bless thee more fully: and to offer up to thee a sacrifice of thy praise, and of their health, that all nations may know, that thou alone art God in all the earth.

²⁰ And immediately Raguel commanded his servants, to fill up the pit they had made, before it was day.

²¹ And he spoke to his wife to make ready a feast, and prepare all kind of provisions that are necessary for such as go a journey.

²² He caused also two fat kine, and four wethers to be killed, and a banquet to be prepared for all his neighbours, and all his friends,

²³ And Raguel adjured Tobias, to abide with him two weeks.

²⁴ And of all things which Raguel possessed, he gave one half to Tobias, and made a writing, that the half that remained should after their decease come also to Tobias.