Tobit 3
3
Tobit Prays
1My heart was filled with sorrow, and as I groaned and wept, I began praying:
2You, Lord, rule the world
with honesty, justice,
and mercy.
3Please be kind and forgive me,
especially for those sins
I didn't mean to commit.
And don't make me suffer
for the sins of my ancestors.
4They disobeyed your commands,
and so you let us be robbed,
or killed,
or laughed at and insulted,
while being led away as captives
all over the world.
5We didn't obey your commands;
we weren't faithful to you.
And so, you were right
to punish me many times.
6Do whatever you want with me!
Take away my life.
Send my body to the grave,
and set me free
from life on earth.
I would rather die
than to live in such suffering
and great sorrow,
listening to insults
I don't deserve.
Set me free; take me away
to my eternal place.
But please, Lord,
don't turn your back on me.
A Woman Named Sarah
7That same day, in the city of Ecbatana in Media,#3.7 Media: See the note at 1.14. a woman named Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was being insulted by one of her father's servant women. 8Sarah had gone through seven wedding ceremonies with seven different husbands, but each time, before she and her new husband had gone to bed on their wedding night, he was killed by the demon Asmodeus. That's why the servant had told her, “You've already been married seven times, and each of those times you have killed your husband before he could give you a son.#3.8 before he could give you a son: Or “before you could sleep with him and make the marriage official”; other Greek manuscripts “before he could do you any good.” 9So why do you strike at us because your husbands have died? Just go where they are! We hope you never have any children!”
10Sarah's heart was heavy with sorrow, and she was crying as she went to an upstairs room in her father's house, where she planned to hang herself. But after thinking about it, she decided:
No, I won't kill myself. Everyone would talk about my father behind his back. They would tell each other how he had only one child and that he loved her very much, and yet she had so many troubles that she hanged herself. My father would never get over his sorrow if I committed suicide. But I can't stand to listen to these insults any longer, so I will ask the Lord to take my life.
Sarah Prays
11Sarah stretched out her arms toward a window and prayed:
I praise you, Lord,
for your mercy.
I pray that all your creation
will honor your name forever.
12Now in prayer I look to you
13and ask you to release me
from this life
and free me from these insults.
* 14You know I haven't disgraced
my father's name, or mine,
by committing the sin
of sleeping with a man
who wasn't my husband.
15I have married seven men,
but all of them died.
I am an only child,
living far from my homeland.
There are no relatives here
who could marry me,
so we could have a child
to carry on the family line.
I have no reason to live, Lord.
But if you won't take my life,
at least stop people
from insulting me.
God Hears the Prayers of Tobit and Sarah
Tobit speaks:
16Sarah and I were praying to God at exactly the same time, and he decided 17#Nu 36.6-9; Tb 6.10-12. to send the angel Raphael to heal both of us. God told Raphael to get rid of the white covering from my eyes, so I could see again. And he told Raphael to free Sarah from the demon Asmodeus and arrange for her to marry Tobias, my son. And of course, Tobias had the right to marry her, since he was Sarah's closest relative.
As I was leaving my courtyard and going back inside my house, Sarah was coming down from the upstairs room.
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Tobit 3: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.