Tobit 3:1-13,16-17 NRSVue

¹Then with much grief and anguish of heart I wept, and with groaning I 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, may you be mindful of me and look favorably upon me. Do not punish me for my sins or for my unwitting offenses or for those of my ancestors. They sinned against you ⁴and 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. ⁵And now your many judgments are true in dealing with me according to my sins. For we have not kept your commandments and have not walked in accordance with truth before you. ⁶So 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 that attends me. Command, O Lord, that I be released from this distress; release me to go to the place of eternity, 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 better not to listen to insults.”

⁷On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was reproached by one of her father’s female slaves. 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 female slave 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!”

¹⁰Overcome with emotion at that time, she wept and went up to her father’s upper room, intending to hang herself. But she thought it over and said, “Let no one ever reproach my father, saying to him, ‘You had only one beloved daughter, and she hanged herself out of distress!’ I would bring my father in his old age down in sorrow to Hades. It is better for me not to hang myself but to beg the Lord that I may die, so that I will not have to listen to these reproaches for the rest of my life.” ¹¹At that same time, with hands outstretched toward the window, she prayed and said,

“Blessed are you, merciful God! Blessed is your name forever; let all your works bless you forever.

¹²And now, my face is toward you, and I have raised my eyes. ¹³Command that I be released from the earth and not listen to such reproaches any more.

¹⁶At 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.

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