Tobit 14

¹ The end of the hymns of Tobit. Tobit died when he was a hundred and twelve years old and receivedan honourable burial in Nineveh.

² He had been sixty-two when he went blind; and after his cure, he lived in comfort, practisingalmsgiving and continual y praising God and extol ing his greatness.

³ When he was at the point of death he summoned his son Tobias and gave him these instructions,

⁴ 'My son, take your children and hurry away to Media, since I believe the word of God pronounced overNineveh by Nahum. Everything wil come true, everything happen that the emissaries of God, the prophets ofIsrael, have predicted against Assyria and Nineveh; not one of their words wil prove empty. It will al take placein due time. You wil be safer in Media than in Assyria or in Babylonia. Since I for my part know and believe thateverything God has said wil come true; so it will be, and not a word of the prophecies will fail. 'A census will betaken of our brothers living in the land of Israel and they wil be exiled far from their own fair country. The entireterritory of Israel wil become a desert, and Samaria and Jerusalem wil become a desert, and the house of God,for a time, wil be laid waste and burnt.

⁵ Then once again God wil take pity on them and bring them back to the land of Israel. They wil rebuildhis house, although it wil be less beautiful than the first, until the time is fulfil ed. But after this, al will return fromcaptivity and rebuild Jerusalem in al her glory, and the house of God wil be rebuilt within her as the prophets of Israel have foretold.

⁶ And all the people of the whole earth wil be converted and wil reverence God with all sincerity. Al willrenounce their false gods who have led them astray into error,

⁷ and will bless the God of ages in uprightness. Al the Israelites spared in those days wil rememberGod in sincerity of heart. They wil come and gather in Jerusalem and thereafter dwel securely in the land ofAbraham, which will be theirs. And those who sincerely love God wil rejoice. And those who commit sin andwickedness will vanish from the earth.

⁸ 'And now, my children, I lay this duty on you; serve God sincerely, and do what is pleasing to him. Andlay on your children the obligation to behave uprightly, to give alms, to keep God in mind and to bless his namealways, sincerely and with all their might.

⁹ 'So then, my son, leave Nineveh, do not stay here.

¹⁰ As soon as you have buried your mother next to me, go the same day, whenever it may be, and donot linger in this country where I see wickedness and perfidy unashamedly triumphant. Consider, my child, althe things done by Nadab to his foster-father Ahikar. Was not Ahikar forced to go underground, though still aliving man? But God made the criminal pay for his outrage before his victim's eyes, since Ahikar came back tothe light of day, while Nadab went down to everlasting darkness in punishment for plotting against Ahikar's life.Because of his good works Ahikar escaped the deadly snare Nadab had laid for him, and Nadab fel into it to hisown ruin.

¹¹ So, my children, you see what comes of almsgiving, and what wickedness leads to, I mean to death.But now breath fails me.' They laid him back on his bed; he died and was buried with honour.

¹² When his mother died, Tobias buried her beside his father. Then he left for Media with his wife andchildren. He lived in Ecbatana with Raguel, his father-in-law.

¹³ He treated the ageing parents of his wife with every care and respect, and later buried them inEcbatana in Media. Tobias inherited the patrimony of Raguel besides that of his father Tobit.

¹⁴ Much honoured, he lived to the age of a hundred and seventeen years.

¹⁵ Before he died he witnessed the ruin of Nineveh. He saw the Ninevites taken prisoner and deportedto Media by Cyaxares king of Media. He blessed God for everything he inflicted on the Ninevites and Assyrians.Before his death he had the opportunity of rejoicing over the fate of Nineveh, and he blessed the Lord God forever and ever. Amen.