Tobit 3
Tobit prays to God, acknowledging his sins and those of his parents, and asks to be taken from the earth as it is better for him to die than to live in suffering. Meanwhile, Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, is also praying to God, asking to be liberated from the reproach of being a "murderess of husbands" after a demon killed her seven previous husbands on their wedding nights. Both Tobit and Sarah's prayers are heard by God, and the angel Raphael is sent to care for them.
1Then Tobit sighed, and he began to pray with tears2saying, "O Lord, you are just and all your judgments are just, and all your ways are mercy, and truth, and judgment3And now, O Lord, remember me, and do not take vengeance for my sins, and do not call to mind my offenses, nor those of my parents4For we have not obeyed your precepts, and so we have been handed over to plundering and to captivity, and to death, and to mockery, and as a disgrace before all the nations, among which you have dispersed us5And now, O Lord, great are your judgments. For we have not acted according to your precepts, and we have not walked sincerely before you6And now, O Lord, do with me according to your will, and order my spirit to be received in peace. For it is more expedient for me to die, than to live.7And so, on the same day, it happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, in Rages, a city of the Medes, also heard a reproach from one of her father’s servant maids8For she had been given to seven husbands, and a demon named Asmodeus had killed them, as soon as they had approached her9Therefore, when she corrected the maid for her fault, she answered her, saying, "May we never see son or daughter from you upon the earth, you murderess of your husbands10Would you also kill me, just as you have already killed seven husbands?" At these words, she proceeded to an upper room of her house. And for three days and three nights, she did not eat or drink11But, continuing in prayer with tears, she beseeched God, so that he would liberate her from this reproach12And it happened on the third day, while she was completing her prayer, blessing the Lord13that she said: "Blessed is your name, O God of our fathers, who, though you had been angry, will show mercy. And in time of tribulation, you dismiss the sins of those who call upon you14To you, O Lord, I turn my face; to you, I direct my eyes15I beg you, O Lord, that you may absolve me from the chains of this reproach, or at least take me away from the earth16You know, O Lord, that I have never coveted a husband, and I have preserved my soul clean from all impure desire17I have never mingled myself with those who play. And I have not presented myself as a participant with those who walk with levity18But I consented to accept a husband, in your fear, not in my lust19And, either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me. For perhaps you have preserved me for another husband20For your counsel is not within the ability of man21But all who worship you are certain of this: that one’s life, if it should be tested, shall be crowned, and if it should be in tribulation, shall be delivered, and if it should be corrected, shall be permitted to approach your mercy22For you are not delighted with our perdition. For, after a storm, you create tranquility, and after tears and weeping, you pour out exultation23May your name, O God of Israel, be blessed forever.24At that time, the prayers of them both were heard in the sight of the glory of the most high God25And the holy Angel of the Lord, Raphael, was sent to care for both of them, whose prayers were recited at the same time in the sight of the Lord
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