Tobit 3

¹Then Tobit sighed, and he began to pray with tears

²saying, “O Lord, you are just and all your judgments are just, and all your ways are mercy, and truth, and judgment

³And 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 parents

⁴For 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 us

⁵And now, O Lord, great are your judgments. For we have not acted according to your precepts, and we have not walked sincerely before you

⁶And 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 maids

⁸For she had been given to seven husbands, and a demon named Asmodeus had killed them, as soon as they had approached her

⁹Therefore, 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 husbands

¹⁰Would 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 drink

¹¹But, continuing in prayer with tears, she beseeched God, so that he would liberate her from this reproach

¹²And it happened on the third day, while she was completing her prayer, blessing the Lord

¹³that 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 you

¹⁴To you, O Lord, I turn my face; to you, I direct my eyes

¹⁵I beg you, O Lord, that you may absolve me from the chains of this reproach, or at least take me away from the earth

¹⁶You know, O Lord, that I have never coveted a husband, and I have preserved my soul clean from all impure desire

¹⁷I have never mingled myself with those who play. And I have not presented myself as a participant with those who walk with levity

¹⁸But I consented to accept a husband, in your fear, not in my lust

¹⁹And, either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me. For perhaps you have preserved me for another husband

²⁰For your counsel is not within the ability of man

²¹But 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 mercy

²²For you are not delighted with our perdition. For, after a storm, you create tranquility, and after tears and weeping, you pour out exultation

²³May 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 God

²⁵And 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