Texts in Conversation
Tobit opens with a declaration of divine justice that echoes Psalm 119, which affirms that God is just and fair. Later versions expand Tobit by adding the psalm’s description of right judgments, showing how this connection was strengthened over time.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalm 119:137
Hebrew Bible
135 Smile on your servant. Teach me your statutes! 136 Tears stream down from my eyes, because people do not keep your law. 137 צ (Tsade) You are just, O Lord, and your judgments are fair. 138 The rules you impose are just and absolutely reliable. 139 My zeal consumes me, for my enemies forget your instructions.
Tobit 3:2
Deuterocanon
1 And I was much grieved in my soul and groaned and wept. And I began to pray with groanings: 2 O Lord, you are righteous, and all your works are righteous, and all your ways are mercy and truth: you judge the world. 3 And now, O Lord, remember me, and look upon me; and do not take vengeance on me for my sins, both for my ignorances and my fathers’. 4 They sinned against you and disobeyed your commandments, and you gave us for spoil and captivity, and death, and for a proverb and a by-word and a reproach among all the nations among whom you did disperse us.
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Notes and References
"... The medieval Hebrew versions known as Münster (HM), Fagius (HF), and London (HL) expand on the connections between Tobit 3:2 and Psalm 119:137. All three texts add the words “and your judgments are right” after the opening words of Tobit 3:2. In doing so these late traditions recognize an allusion to Psalm 119:137 in their varied Vorlagen and add to the allusion by quoting the next few words of the Psalm ..."
Ryan, Stephan
"The Psalms and the Book of Tobit" in Corley, Jeremy and Vincent Skemp (eds.) Intertextual Studies in Ben Sira and Tobit: Essays in Honor of Alexander A. Di Lella
(pp. 28-42) Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2005
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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