Tobit 8

¹In truth, after they had dined, they introduced the young man to her

²And so, Tobias, remembering the word of the Angel, took part of the liver from his bag, and he placed it over the live coals

³Then the Angel Raphael caught the demon, and bound him in the desert of upper Egypt

⁴Then Tobias exhorted the virgin, and he said to her: “Sarah, get up and let us pray to God this day, and tomorrow, and the following day. For, during these three nights, we are being joined to God. And then, when the third night has passed, we ourselves will be joined together

⁵For certainly, we are the children of the saints, and we must not be joined together in such a manner as the heathens, who are ignorant of God.

⁶And so, rising up together, they both prayed earnestly, at the same time, that health might be given to them

⁷And Tobias said: “Lord, the God of our fathers, may the heavens and the earth bless you, and the sea, and the fountains, and the rivers, and all your creatures that are in them

⁸You formed Adam from the mud of the earth, and you gave Eve to him as a helper

⁹And now, O Lord, you know that I take my sister in conjugal union, not by reason of worldly pleasure, but solely for the love of posterity, in which your name may be blessed forever and ever.

¹⁰Sarah likewise said, “Be merciful to us, O Lord, be merciful to us. And let us both grow old together in health.

¹¹And it happened, about the time of the rooster’s crowing, that Raguel ordered his servants to be summoned, and they went out with him together to dig a grave

¹²For he said, “Lest perhaps, in the same way, it may have happened to him, as it did also to the other seven men who approached her.

¹³And when they had prepared the pit, Raguel returned to his wife, and he said to her

¹⁴“Send one of your maids, and let her see if he is dead, so that I may bury him before the dawn of day.

¹⁵And so, she sent one of her maidservants, who entered the bedroom and discovered them safe and unharmed, sleeping both together

¹⁶And returning, she reported the good news. And they blessed the Lord: Raguel, especially, and his wife Anna

¹⁷And they said: “We bless you, Lord God of Israel, because it has not happened in the way that we thought it might

¹⁸For you have acted in your mercy toward us, and you have excluded from us the enemy who pursued us

¹⁹Moreover, you have had compassion on two only children. Make them, O Lord, able to bless you more fully and to offer you a sacrifice of your praise and of their health, so that all peoples everywhere may know that you alone are God in all the earth.

²⁰And immediately Raguel instructed his servants to refill the pit, which they had made, before daylight

²¹And then he told his wife to make ready a feast, and to prepare all the provisions that are necessary for those who undertake a journey

²²Likewise, he caused two fat cows and four rams to be killed, and a banquet to be prepared for all his neighbors and every one of his friends

²³And Raguel pleaded with Tobias to delay with him for two weeks

²⁴Moreover, of all the things that Raguel possessed, he gave one half part to Tobias, and he made a writing, so that the half that remained should also pass into the ownership of Tobias, after their deaths