Tobit’s Prayer

1 And I was deeply distressed and groaned and wept. And I began to pray with groans,

2 “Lord, you are righteous, and all your works are righteous,⁠a and all your ways show mercy and truth. You judge the world. 3 And now, Lord, remember me, and look at me, and do not take vengeance on me for my sins, for my unwitting offenses and those of my ancestors.⁠b 4 They sinned against you and disobeyed your commandments, and you handed us over to be plundered, taken captive, and killed, and made us a proverb, a byword, and an object of contempt among all the nations among whom you scattered us. 5 And now your many judgments are just in making me pay the penalty for my sins, because we did not keep your commandments and did not live faithfully before you. 6 And now deal with me as you please, and command my spirit to be taken from me, that I may be released from the earth and return to dust,⁠c for it is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard false accusations, and I am full of sorrow.⁠d Lord, command that I be released from this distress, let me go to the everlasting place, and do not turn your face, Lord, away from me. For it is better for me to die, than to see much distress in my life, and I would no longer hear insults.”

Sarah’s Distress and Prayer

7 On the same day, Sarah, the daughter of Raguel in Ecbatana in Media, was also insulted by one of her father’s female servants,

8 because she had been given to seven husbands, and Asmodeus the evil demon had killed them, before they had slept with her, as husbands do with their wives.⁠e And the servant said to her, “You are the one who kills your husbands! You have already been given to seven husbands, and you have not borne the name of any of them.⁠f 9 Why do you beat us because of your husbands because they have died? Go and join them and let us see no son or daughter of yours ever again.”

10 In that day she was deeply distressed and wept, and she went up into her father’s upper room,⁠g and wanted to hang herself, but she thought again and said, “No, people might blame my father and say to him, ‘You had one beloved daughter, and she has hanged herself because of her troubles!’ And I will bring my elderly father down to Hades in sorrow. It is better for me not to hang myself, but to beg the Lord that I may die and no longer hear insults while I live.”

11 At the very same time she stretched out her hands toward the window and prayed, and said, “Blessed are you, merciful God, and blessed is your name forever, and let all your works bless you forever. 12 And now I lift my face and my eyes to you. 13 Command that I be released from the earth, and that I no longer hear insults. 14 You know, Master, that I am free from sexual impurity with any man, 15 and that I never disgraced my name, nor the name of my father either, in the land of my captivity. I am the only daughter of my father, and he has no other child to be his heir. He has no close relative or kinsman for whom I should keep myself as a wife. Seven husbands of mine are dead already. And why should I live on? And if it pleases you not to kill me, Lord, then hear how I am insulted.”

Raphael Is Sent to Heal Tobit and Sarah

16 At the very same time the prayer of both was heard before the glory of God.⁠h 17 And Raphael was sent to heal them both. In Tobit’s case, it was to remove the white films from his eyes, so that he could see the light of God with his eyes, and in the case of Sarah the daughter of Raguel, to give her as a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit, and to free her from Asmodeus the evil demon, because Tobias had the right to inherit her before all the others who wished to marry her. At that time Tobit returned from the courtyard into his house, and Sarah the daughter of Raguel herself also came down from the upstairs room.