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Courage in Burying the Dead

16 In the days of Shalmaneser^* I performed many acts of charity to my kindred, those of my tribe. ¹⁷I would give my food to the hungry and my clothing to the naked; and if I saw the dead body of any of my people thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I would bury it. ¹⁸I also buried any whom King Sennacherib put to death when he came fleeing from Judea in those days of judgement that the king of heaven executed upon him because of his blasphemies. For in his anger he put to death many Israelites; but I would secretly remove the bodies and bury them. So when Sennacherib looked for them he could not find them. ¹⁹Then one of the Ninevites went and informed the king about me, that I was burying them; so I hid myself. But when I realized that the king knew about me and that I was being searched for to be put to death, I was afraid and ran away. ²⁰Then all my property was confiscated; nothing was left to me that was not taken into the royal treasury, except my wife Anna and my son Tobias.

21 But not forty^* days passed before two of Sennacherib’s^* sons killed him, and they fled to the mountains of Ararat, and his son Esar-haddon^* reigned after him. He appointed Ahikar, the son of my brother Hanael^* over all the accounts of his kingdom, and he had authority over the entire administration. ²²Ahikar interceded for me, and I returned to Nineveh. Now Ahikar was chief cupbearer, keeper of the signet, and in charge of administration of the accounts under King Sennacherib of Assyria; so Esar-haddon^* reappointed him. He was my nephew and so a close relative.