Complete Works of Saint Jerome, Vol. X

33 THE BOOK OF TOBIT 34

...may the Lord grant you joy for the sorrow you have endured.

[Chap. VIII.] After they had dined, they brought the young man in to her. Tobias, therefore, mindful of the angel’s words, took from his satchel a portion of the liver and placed it upon burning coals. Then Raphael the angel seized the demon and bound him in the desert of upper Egypt. Then Tobias exhorted the maiden and said to her, "Sarah, arise, and let us pray to God today, and tomorrow, and the next day; for we are joined to God for these three nights, and after the third night, we shall be in our own wedlock. For we are children of the saints, and we cannot be joined together like the Gentiles who do not know God."

Rising together, they both prayed earnestly that health might be granted to them. And Tobias said, "Lord God of our fathers, may the heavens and the earth, the sea, the fountains, the rivers, and all your creatures that are in them bless you. You made Adam from the slime of the earth, and you gave him Eve as a helpmate. And now, Lord, you know that I take my kinswoman as my wife not for the sake of lust, but for the sole love of posterity, in which your name may be blessed for ever and ever." Sarah also said: 1 "Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, and may we both grow old in health."

And it came to pass about the time of the cockcrow that Raguel ordered his servants to be called, and they went out with him together to dig a grave. For he was saying, 2 "Lest perhaps it may happen to him as it did to those other seven men who entered into her." And when they had prepared the pit, Raguel returned to his wife and said to her, "Send one of your handmaids, and let her see if he is dead, so that I may bury him before the day brightens." So she sent one of her handmaids. She, entering the chamber, found them safe and sound, sleeping together. And having returned, she announced the good news: and they blessed the Lord, namely Raguel and Anna his wife, and said, 3 "We bless you, Lord God of Israel, because it has not happened as we thought. For you have shown your mercy to us and have removed from us the enemy who was persecuting us. You have had mercy upon two only children. Make them, Lord, more fully 4 to bless you, and to offer you a sacrifice of your praise and of their health, so that the whole assembly of nations may know that you are the only God in all the earth." And immediately Raguel commanded his servants to fill in the pit that they had made before it grew light. To his wife, however, he said that she should prepare a feast and make ready

all things necessary for those who are on a journey. He also caused two fat cows and four rams to be killed and prepared a banquet for all his neighbors and all his friends. And Raguel adjured Tobias to stay with him for two weeks. Moreover, of all that Raguel possessed, he gave one half to Tobias: and he drew up a document alternative reading: he added this that the half which remained after their death should come into the possession of Tobias.

[Chap. IX.] Then Tobias called the angel to himself, whom indeed he supposed to be a man, and said to him: "Azarias, my brother, I ask that you listen to my words.

If I should deliver myself to you as a servant, I shall not be worthy of your providence. Nevertheless, I beseech you to take 5 for yourself the animals or servants, and go to Gabelus in the city of Rages of the Medes, and return to him his bond, and receive from him the money, and invite him to come to the wedding. For you yourself know that my father counts the days; if I delay even one day more, his soul will be saddened. And certainly you see how Raguel has adjured me 6, whose adjuration I cannot despise."

Then Raphael, taking four of Raguel's servants and two camels, journeyed to Rages, a city of the Medes 7: and finding Gabelus, he returned to him his bond and received from him all the money, and told him about Tobias, the son of Tobias, and all that had come to pass 8: and caused him to come with him to the wedding.

And when he had entered the house of Raguel, he found Tobias sitting at the table: and leaping up, they kissed one another: and Gabelus wept 9, and blessed God, and said: "May the God of Israel bless you, because you are the son of a very good and just man, who fears God and performs alms-deeds: and may a blessing be spoken over your wife, and over your parents, and may you see your children, and the children of your children, even to the third and fourth generation: and may your seed 10 be blessed by the God of Israel, who reigns for ever and ever." And when all had said, "Amen," they approached the banquet: but they observed the wedding feast also with the fear of the Lord.

[Chap. X] But while Tobias was making delays on account of the wedding, his father Tobias was anxious, saying: "Why do you think my son is delayed, or why has he been detained there? Do you think Gabelus is dead, and no one will return the money to him?" And he began to be saddened exceedingly, and Anna his wife with him: and they both began to weep together: because their son was not returning on the appointed day. He was weeping

marginalia translated from the footnotes:
1. Palatine manuscript along with the Vulgate versions: "Then Sarah said," etc.
2. The Palatine manuscript omits "perhaps."
3. The same manuscript adds here: "to us."
4. Palatine manuscript: "In more fully." A little later, instead of "universitas" [assembly], which our books almost universally restore, it is erroneously read as "universitatis" [of the assembly] by Martianus.
5. Our manuscripts: "I beseech you to take," without "for yourself," etc.
6. One Palatine manuscript: "How Raguel has adjured me."
7. The same manuscript omits the word "city" here, and soon after has: "And coming to Gabelus, he gave him the bond instead of: And finding Gabelus," etc.
8. The same manuscript: "What things had come to pass for him."
9. The same manuscript has again: "Gabelus therefore wept, then: May the Lord God bless you," etc.
10. Instead of "seed" in the Palatine manuscript, it is "name."