Tobit 3

KING JAMES BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Then I being grieved did weep, and in my sorrow prayed, saying,	1 Then Tobit sighed, and he began to pray with tears,
2 O Lord, thou art just, and all thy works and all thy ways are mercy and truth, and thou judgest truly and justly for ever.	2 saying, “O Lord, you are just and all your judgments are just, and all your ways are mercy, and truth, and judgment.
3 Remember me, and look on me, punish me not for my sins and ignorances, and the sins of mg fathers, who have sinned before thee:	3 And now, O Lord, remember me, and do not take vengeance for my sins, and do not call to mind my offenses, nor those of my parents.
4 For they obeyed not thy commandments: wherefore thou hast delivered us for a spoil, and unto captivity, and unto death, and for a proverb of reproach to all the nations among whom we are dispersed.	4 For we have not obeyed your precepts, and so we have been handed over to plundering and to captivity, and to death, and to mockery, and as a disgrace before all the nations, among which you have dispersed us.
5 And now thy judgments are many and true: deal with me according to my sins and my fathers': because we have not kept thy commandments, neither have walked in truth before thee.	5 And now, O Lord, great are your judgments. For we have not acted according to your precepts, and we have not walked sincerely before you.
6 Now therefore deal with me as seemeth best unto thee, and command my spirit to be taken from me, that I may be dissolved, and become earth: for it is profitable for me to die rather than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and have much sorrow: command therefore that I may now be delivered out of this distress, and go into the everlasting place: turn not thy face away from me.	6 And now, O Lord, do with me according to your will, and order my spirit to be received in peace. For it is more expedient for me to die, than to live.”
7 It came to pass the same day, that in Ecbatane a city of Media Sara the daughter of Raguel was also reproached by her father's maids;	7 And so, on the same day, it happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, in Rages, a city of the Medes, also heard a reproach from one of her father’s servant maids.
8 Because that she had been married to seven husbands, whom Asmodeus the evil spirit had killed, before they had lain with her. Dost thou not know, said they, that thou hast strangled thine husbands? thou hast had already seven husbands, neither wast thou named after any of them.	8 For she had been given to seven husbands, and a demon named Asmodeus had killed them, as soon as they had approached her.
9 Wherefore dost thou beat us for them? if they be dead, go thy ways after them, let us never see of thee either son or daughter.	9 Therefore, when she corrected the maid for her fault, she answered her, saying, “May we never see son or daughter from you upon the earth, you murderess of your husbands.
10 Whe she heard these things, she was very sorrowful, so that she thought to have strangled herself; and she said, I am the only daughter of my father, and if I do this, it shall be a reproach unto him, and I shall bring his old age with sorrow unto the grave.	10 Would you also kill me, just as you have already killed seven husbands?” At these words, she proceeded to an upper room of her house. And for three days and three nights, she did not eat or drink.
11 Then she prayed toward the window, and said, Blessed art thou, O Lord my God, and thine holy and glorious name is blessed and honourable for ever: let all thy works praise thee for ever.	11 But, continuing in prayer with tears, she beseeched God, so that he would liberate her from this reproach.
12 And now, O Lord, I set I mine eyes and my face toward thee,	12 And it happened on the third day, while she was completing her prayer, blessing the Lord,
13 And say, Take me out of the earth, that I may hear no more the reproach.	13 that she said: “Blessed is your name, O God of our fathers, who, though you had been angry, will show mercy. And in time of tribulation, you dismiss the sins of those who call upon you.
14 Thou knowest, Lord, that I am pure from all sin with man,	14 To you, O Lord, I turn my face; to you, I direct my eyes.
15 And that I never polluted my name, nor the name of my father, in the land of my captivity: I am the only daughter of my father, neither hath he any child to be his heir, neither any near kinsman, nor any son of his alive, to whom I may keep myself for a wife: my seven husbands are already dead; and why should I live? but if it please not thee that I should die, command some regard to be had of me, and pity taken of me, that I hear no more reproach.	15 I beg you, O Lord, that you may absolve me from the chains of this reproach, or at least take me away from the earth.
16 So the prayers of them both were heard before the majesty of the great God.	16 You know, O Lord, that I have never coveted a husband, and I have preserved my soul clean from all impure desire.
17 And Raphael was sent to heal them both, that is, to scale away the whiteness of Tobit's eyes, and to give Sara the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit; and to bind Asmodeus the evil spirit; because she belonged to Tobias by right of inheritance. The selfsame time came Tobit home, and entered into his house, and Sara the daughter of Raguel came down from her upper chamber.	17 I have never mingled myself with those who play. And I have not presented myself as a participant with those who walk with levity.
	18 But I consented to accept a husband, in your fear, not in my lust.
	19 And, either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me. For perhaps you have preserved me for another husband.
	20 For your counsel is not within the ability of man.
	21 But all who worship you are certain of this: that one’s life, if it should be tested, shall be crowned, and if it should be in tribulation, shall be delivered, and if it should be corrected, shall be permitted to approach your mercy.
	22 For you are not delighted with our perdition. For, after a storm, you create tranquility, and after tears and weeping, you pour out exultation.
	23 May your name, O God of Israel, be blessed forever.”
	24 At that time, the prayers of them both were heard in the sight of the glory of the most high God.
	25 And the holy Angel of the Lord, Raphael, was sent to care for both of them, whose prayers were recited at the same time in the sight of the Lord.