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Tobit’s Prayer

3Then with much grief and anguish of heart I wept, and with groaning began to pray:
² ‘You are righteous, O Lord,
   and all your deeds are just;
all your ways are mercy and truth;
   you judge the world.^*
3 And now, O Lord, remember me
   and look favourably upon me.
Do not punish me for my sins
   and for my unwitting offences
   and those that my ancestors committed before you.
They sinned against you,
⁴   and disobeyed your commandments.
So you gave us over to plunder, exile, and death,
   to become the talk, the byword, and an object of reproach,
   among all the nations among whom you have dispersed us.
⁵ And now your many judgements are true
   in exacting penalty from me for my sins.
For we have not kept your commandments
   and have not walked in accordance with truth before you.
⁶ So now deal with me as you will;
   command my spirit to be taken from me,
   so that I may be released from the face of the earth and become dust.
For it is better for me to die than to live,
   because I have had to listen to undeserved insults,
   and great is the sorrow within me.
Command, O Lord, that I be released from this distress;
   release me to go to the eternal home,
   and do not, O Lord, turn your face away from me.
For it is better for me to die
   than to see so much distress in my life
   and to listen to insults.’

Sarah Falsely Accused

7 On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was reproached by one of her father’s maids. ⁸For she had been married to seven husbands, and the wicked demon Asmodeus had killed each of them before they had been with her as is customary for wives. So the maid said to her, ‘You are the one who kills^* your husbands! See, you have already been married to seven husbands and have not borne the name of^* a single one of them. ⁹Why do you beat us? Because your husbands are dead? Go with them! May we never see a son or daughter of yours!’

Sarah’s Prayer for Death

10 On that day she was grieved in spirit and wept. When she had gone up to her father’s upper room, she intended to hang herself. But she thought it over and said, ‘Never shall they reproach my father, saying to him, “You had only one beloved daughter but she hanged herself because of her distress.” And I shall bring my father in his old age down in sorrow to Hades. It is better for me not to hang myself, but to pray the Lord that I may die and not listen to these reproaches any more.’ ¹¹At that same time, with hands outstretched towards the window, she prayed and said,
‘Blessed are you, merciful God!
   Blessed is your name for ever;
   let all your works praise you for ever.

An Answer to Prayer

16 At that very moment, the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God. ¹⁷So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes, so that he might see God’s light with his eyes; and Sarah daughter of Raguel, by giving her in marriage to Tobias son of Tobit, and by setting her free from the wicked demon Asmodeus. For Tobias was entitled to have her before all others who had desired to marry her. At the same time that Tobit returned from the courtyard into his house, Sarah daughter of Raguel came down from her upper room.

¹⁸You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. ²⁰He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. ²¹Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth^* so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply^* from the heart.^{* 23}You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.^{* 24}For
‘All flesh is like grass
   and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
   and the flower falls,
²⁵ but the word of the Lord endures for ever.’
That word is the good news that was announced to you.