Tobit 1
1
1 Tobit was from the tribe and city of Naphtali (which is in the upper parts of Galilee above Asher, after the way, which leads to the west, that has on its left the city of Sephet).
2 Although he had been taken captive in the days of Shalmaneser, the king of the Assyrians, even in such a situation as captivity, he did not desert the way of truth.
3 So then, every day, all that he was able to obtain, he bestowed on his fellow captive brothers, who were from his kindred.
4 And, when he was among the youngest of any in the tribe of Naphtali, he showed not so much as any childish behavior in his work.
5 And then, when all went to the golden calves which Jeroboam, king of Israel, had made, he alone fled from the company of them all.
6 Yet he continued on to Jerusalem, to the temple of the Lord, and there he adored the Lord God of Israel, offering faithfully all his first-fruits and his tithes.
7 So then, in the third year, he administered all his tithes to new converts and to new arrivals.
8 These and similar such things, even as a boy, he observed according to the law of God.
9 Truly, when he had become a man, he received as wife Anna of his own tribe, and he conceived a son by her, to whom he assigned his own name.
10 From his infancy, he taught him to fear God and to abstain from all sin.
11 Therefore, when, during the captivity, he had arrived with his wife and son at the city of Nineveh, with all his tribe,
12 (even though they all ate from the foods of the Gentiles,) he guarded his soul and never was contaminated with their foods.
13 And because he was mindful of the Lord with his whole heart, God gave him favor in the sight of Shalmaneser the king.
14 And he gave him the power to go wherever he would want, having the freedom to do whatever he wished.
15 Therefore, he continued on to all who were in captivity, and he gave them helpful advice.
16 But when he had arrived at Rages, a city of the Medes, he had ten talents of silver, from that which he had been given in honor by the king.
17 And when, in the midst of the great tumult of his kindred, he saw the destitution of Gabael, who was from his tribe, he loaned him, under a written agreement, the aforementioned weight of silver.
18 In truth, after a long time, Shalmaneser the king died, while Sennacherib his son reigned in his place, and he held a hatred for the sons of Israel.
19 Every day, Tobit traveled though all his own people, and he consoled them, and he distributed to each one as much as he could from his resources.
20 He nourished the hungry, and he supplied clothes to the naked, and he showed concern for the burial of the dead and of the slain.
21 And then, when king Sennacherib had returned from Judea, fleeing the scourge which God had caused all around him because of his blasphemy, and, being angry, he was slaughtering many from the sons of Israel, Tobit buried their bodies.
22 And when it was reported to the king, he ordered him to be slain, and he took away all his belongings.
23 In truth, Tobit, fleeing with nothing but his son and his wife, was able to remain hidden because many loved him.
24 In truth, after forty-five days, the king was slain by his own sons,
25 and Tobit was able to return to his house, and all his resources were restored to him.
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Tobit 1
1
1I am Tobit and this is the story of my life. My father was Tobiel, my grandfather was Ananiel, and my great-grandfather was Aduel. Aduel's father was Gabael; his grandfather was Raphael; and his great-grandfather was Raguel, who belonged to the clan of Asiel, a part of the tribe of Naphtali. 2#2 Kgs 17.3; 18.9During the time that Shalmaneser was emperor of Assyria, I was taken captive in my home town of Thisbe, located in northern Galilee, south of Kadesh in Naphtali, north-west of Hazor, and north of Phogor.
Tobit's Early Life
3All my life I have been honest and have tried to do what was right. I have often given money to help needy relatives and fellow-Jews who were deported with me to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.
4When I was young, I lived in northern Israel. All the tribes in Israel were supposed to offer sacrifices in Jerusalem. It was the one city that God had chosen from among all the Israelite cities as the place where his Temple was to be built for his holy and eternal home. But my entire tribe of Naphtali rejected the city of Jerusalem and the kings descended from David. 5#1 Kgs 12.28–29Like everyone else in this tribe, my own family used to go to the city of Dan in the mountains of northern Galilee to offer sacrifices to the gold bull-calf which King Jeroboam of Israel had set up there.
Tobit's Faithfulness to His Religion
6 #
Deut 16.16
I was the only one in my family who regularly went to Jerusalem to celebrate the religious festivals, as the Law of Moses commands everyone to do. I would hurry off to Jerusalem with the first part of my harvest, the firstborn of my animals, a tenth of my cattle, and the freshly clipped wool from my sheep. Then I would stand before the altar in the Temple, and give these offerings to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 7I would give a tenth of my grain, wine, olive-oil, pomegranates, figs and other fruits to the Levites who served God in Jerusalem. Every year, except the seventh year when the land was at rest,#1.7 the land was at rest: See Lev 25.1–7. I would sell a second tenth of my possessions and spend the money in Jerusalem on the festival meal.
8But every third year, I would give a third tithe#1.8 a third tithe; some manuscripts have the money. to widows and orphans and to foreigners living among my people, and we would eat the festival meal together. I did this in keeping with the Law of Moses, which Deborah, the mother of my grandfather Ananiel, had taught me to obey. (I had been left an orphan when my father died.)
Tobit's Faithfulness in Exile
9When I grew up, I married Anna, a member of my own tribe. We had a son and named him Tobias. 10Later, I was taken captive and deported to Assyria, and that is how I came to live in Nineveh.
While we lived in Nineveh, all my relatives and fellow-Jews used to eat the same kind of food as the other people who lived there, 11but I refused to do so. 12Since I took seriously the commands of the Most High God, 13he made Emperor Shalmaneser respect me, and I was placed in charge of purchasing all the emperor's supplies.
14Before the emperor died, I made regular visits to the land of Media to buy things for him there. Once, when I was in the city of Rages in Media, I left some bags of money there with Gabael, Gabrias' brother, and asked him to keep them for me. There were more than 300 kilogrammes of silver coins in those bags. 15When Shalmaneser died, his son Sennacherib succeeded him as emperor. It soon became so dangerous to travel on the roads in Media that I could no longer go there.
Tobit Buries the Dead
16While Shalmaneser was still emperor, I took good care of my fellow-Jews whenever they were in need. 17#Job 31.16–20If they were hungry, I shared my food with them; if they needed clothes, I gave them some of my own. Whenever I saw that the dead body of one of my people had been thrown outside the city wall, I gave it a decent burial.
18One day Sennacherib cursed God, the King of Heaven; God punished him, and Sennacherib had to retreat from Judah. On his way back to Media he was so furious that he killed many Israelites. But I secretly removed the bodies and buried them; and when Sennacherib later searched for the bodies, he could not find them.
19Then someone from Nineveh told the emperor that I was the one who had been burying his victims. As soon as I realized that the emperor knew all about me and that my life was in danger, I became frightened. So I ran away and hid. 20Everything I owned was seized and put in the royal treasury. My wife Anna and my son Tobias were all I had left.
Tobit's Nephew Rescues Him
21About six weeks later, two of Sennacherib's sons assassinated him and then escaped to the mountains of Ararat. Another son, Esarhaddon, became emperor and put Ahikar, my brother Anael's son, in charge of all the financial affairs of the empire. 22This was actually the second time Ahikar was appointed to this position, for when Sennacherib was emperor of Assyria, Ahikar had been wine steward, treasurer, and accountant, and had been in charge of the official seal. Since Ahikar was my nephew, he put in a good word for me with the emperor, and I was allowed to return to Nineveh.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.