Hebrew Tales

Tobias & the Angel

Chapter 14

Tobit offers deathbed advice. Tobias and Sarah live long and happy lives.

[1] So Tobit ended his prayer praising God.

[2] And he was fifty-eight years old when he lost his sight, which was restored to him after eight years; and he gave alms, and he increased in the fear of the Lord God and praised him. [3] And when he was very aged, he called his son, and the sons of his son, and said to him,

“My son, take your children, for see now I am aged and ready to depart out of this life. [4] Go into Media, my son, for I surely believe those things which Jonah the prophet spoke about Nineveh, that it shall be overthrown, and that for a time peace shall rest in Media instead, and that our brethren shall lie scattered across the earth from that good land, and Jerusalem shall be desolate, and God’s house in it shall be burned and shall be desolate for a time.

[5] “And again God will have mercy on them and bring them again into the land, where they shall build a temple, but not like the first, until the time of that age is fulfilled; and afterward they shall return from all the places of their captivity and build up Jerusalem gloriously, and God’s house shall be built in it for ever with a glorious building, just as the prophets have spoken.

[6] “And all nations shall turn and fear the Lord God truly, and shall bury their idols. [7] So shall all nations praise the Lord, and his people shall confess God, and the Lord will exalt his people; and all those who love the Lord God in truth and justice shall rejoice, showing mercy to our brethren.

[8] ”And now, my son, depart out of Nineveh, because those things of which the prophet Jonah spoke will surely come to pass. [9] But you, keep the law and the commandments and show yourself to be merciful and just, so that it may go well with you.

[10] “And bury me decently, and your mother with me; but delay no longer at Nineveh. Remember, my son, how Aman handled Achiacharus, who brought him up; how out of light he brought him into darkness, and how he took notice of him again; yet Achiacharus was saved, but the other had his just reward, for he went down into darkness. Manasseh gave alms and escaped the snares of death which they had set for him, but Aman fell into the snare and perished.

[11] “Therefore now, my son, consider what alms can do and how righteousness can deliver.”

Tobias, grown old with honor, sits reading, complete with eyeglasses.
(XVIth-century ceiling decoration, Cathèdrale de Sainte Cécile, Albi, France)

When he had said these things, he gave up his spirit in the bed, when he was one hundred fifty-eight years old; and he buried him honorably.

[12] And when Anna his mother was dead, Tobias buried her with his father. But Tobias departed with his wife and children to Ecbatane, to Raguel his father-in-law.

[13] There he became old with honor, and he buried his father-in-law and mother-in-law honorably, and he inherited their belongings and his father Tobit’s belongings.

[14] And he died at Ecbatane in Media, when he was one hundred twenty-seven years old.

[15] But before he died, he heard of the destruction of Nineveh, which was taken by Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus; and before his death he rejoiced over Nineveh.

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Interactive review questions are available covering this reading. You can attempt them in a series of three "wimp" quizzes (1, 2, 3), or a pair of "normal" quizzes (1, 2). Both versions have the same questions. They vary only in how many questions are blocked into a single quiz. If you feel ambitious, you can even take the hero version: all questions in a single quiz.