Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
To look up a word in a dictionary, select the word with your mouse and press 'd' on your keyboard.
Tobit's Prayer
1 I was so embarrassed and
ashamed that I sighed and began
to cry. Then, as I choked back
my tears, I prayed:
2
“You are righteous, O Lord!
You are merciful note in all you do,
faithful in all your ways.
You are the judge of this world. note
3
4
I beg you, treat me with kindness.
Do not punish me for my sins,
not even for sins of which I am unaware.
My ancestors rebelled and disobeyed note your commands,
but do not punish me for their sins.
You let our people be plundered,
taken captive and killed.
You made an example of our people,
-- --
an object of contempt and disgrace
in all the nations where you scattered us.
5
You have often judged my ancestors for their sins
and punished me for mine.
We were disloyal and rejected your commands,
so our punishment has always been just.
6
“Now treat me as you please.
Take my life away and free me from this world;
let my body return to the earth.
I would be better off dead.
I am tormented by insults I don't deserve,
and weighed down with despair.
Lord, give the command—
bring all my troubles to an end,
take me to my eternal rest.
Don't reject my prayer.
I would rather die than live in misery
and face such cruel insults.”
Sarah's Troubles
7 That same day in the city of Ecbatana
in Media, it happened that
Sarah, the daughter of a man named
Raguel, was insulted by one of her
father's servant girls.
8 Sarah had
been married seven times, but the
evil demon, Asmodeus, killed each
husband before the marriage could
be consummated. The servant girl
said to Sarah, “You husband killer!
Look at you! You've already had
seven husbands, but not one of them
lived long enough to give you a son. note
9 Why should you take it out on us?
Why don't you go and join your
dead husbands? I hope we never see
a child of yours!”
10 Sarah was so depressed that she
burst into tears and went upstairs
determined to hang herself. But
when she thought it over, she said to
herself, “No, I won't do it! People
would insult my father and say, ‘You
had only one child, a daughter
whom you loved dearly, but she
hanged herself because she felt so
miserable.’ Such grief would bring
my gray-haired father to his grave,
and I would be responsible. I won't
kill myself; I'll just beg the Lord to
let me die. Then I won't have to listen
to those insults any longer!”
Sarah's Prayer
11 Then Sarah stood by the window,
raised her arms in prayer, and
said,
11
“God of mercy, worthy of our praise,
may your name always be honored,
may all your creation praise you forever.
12
“Lord, I look to you for help.
13
Speak the word and set me free from this life;
then I will no longer have to hear these insults.
14
You know, O Lord, that I'm still a virgin;
I have never been defiled by a man.
15
Never have I disgraced myself or my father's name,
as long as we have lived in this land of exile.
-- --
My father has no other child to be his heir,
and there is no relative note whom I can marry.
I have already lost seven husbands,
so why should I live any longer?
But if it is not your will to take my life,
at least show mercy to me.
Don't let me hear those insults again!” note
God Hears the Prayers of Tobit
and Sarah
16 As Tobit and Sarah were praying,
God in heaven heard their
prayers
17 and sent his angel Raphael
to help them. He was sent to remove
the white film from Tobit's eyes, so
that he could see again, and to arrange
a marriage between Sarah and
Tobit's son Tobias, who, as her
cousin, had the right to marry her.
Raphael was also ordered to expel
the demon Asmodeus from Sarah.
At the very moment that Tobit went
back into his house from the courtyard,
Sarah, in her house in Ecbatana,
was coming downstairs. note
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
|