HOLY BIBLE: Tobit 12 (original) (raw)

8 ἀγαθὸν προσευχὴ μετὰ νηστείας καὶ ἐλεημοσύνης καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἀγαθὸν τὸ ὀλίγον μετὰ δικαιοσύνης ἢ πολὺ μετὰ ἀδικίας καλὸν ποιῆσαι ἐλεημοσύνην ἢ θησαυρίσαι χρυσίον 9 ἐλεημοσύνη γὰρ ἐκ θανάτου ῥύεται καὶ αὐτὴ ἀποκαθαριεῖ πᾶσαν ἁμαρτίαν οἱ ποιοῦντες ἐλεημοσύνας καὶ δικαιοσύνας πλησθήσονται ζωῆς 10 οἱ δὲ ἁμαρτάνοντες πολέμιοί εἰσιν τῆς ἑαυτῶν ζωῆς 11 οὐ μὴ κρύψω ἀ{F'} ὑμῶν πᾶν ῥῆμα εἴρηκα δή μυστήριον βασιλέως κρύψαι καλόν τὰ δὲ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνακαλύπτειν ἐνδόξως 12 καὶ νῦν ὅτε προσηύξω σὺ καὶ ἡ νύμφη σου Σαρρα ἐγὼ προσήγαγον τὸ μνημόσυνον τῆς προσευχῆς ὑμῶν ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ ὅτε ἔθαπτες τοὺς νεκρούς ὡσαύτως συμπαρήμην σοι 13 καὶ ὅτε οὐκ ὤκνησας ἀναστῆναι καὶ καταλιπεῖν τὸ ἄριστόν σου ὅπως ἀπελθὼν περιστείλῃς τὸν νεκρόν οὐκ ἔλαθές με ἀγαθοποιῶν ἀλλὰ σὺν σοὶ ἤμην 14 καὶ νῦν ἀπέστειλέν με ὁ θεὸς ἰάσασθαί σε καὶ τὴν νύμφην σου Σαρραν 15 ἐγώ εἰμι Ραφαηλ εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἁγίων ἀγγέλων οἳ προσαναφέρουσιν τὰς προσευχὰς τῶν ἁγίων καὶ εἰσπορεύονται ἐνώπιον τῆς δόξης τοῦ ἁγίου

8 Prayer, fasting, and alms, said he, here is better treasure to lay up than any store of gold. 9 Almsgiving is death’s avoiding, is guilt’s atoning, is the winning of mercy and of life eternal; 10 the sinners, the wrong-doers, are enemies to their own souls. 11 Come, let me tell you the whole truth of the matter, bring the hidden purpose of it to light. 12 When thou, Tobias, wert praying, and with tears, when thou wert burying the dead, leaving thy dinner untasted, so as to hide them all day in thy house, and at night give them funeral, I, all the while, was offering that prayer of thine to the Lord. 13 Then, because thou hadst won his favour, needs must that trials should come, and test thy worth. 14 And now, for thy healing, for the deliverance of thy son’s wife Sara from the fiend’s attack, he has chosen me for his messenger. 15 Who am I? I am the angel Raphael, and my place is among those seven who stand in the presence of the Lord.

8 Bona est oratio cum jejunio, et eleemosyna magis quam thesauros auri recondere: 9 quoniam eleemosyna a morte liberat, et ipsa est quæ purgat peccata, et facit invenire misericordiam et viam æternam. 10 Qui autem faciunt peccatum et iniquitatem, hostes sunt animæ suæ. 11 Manifesto ergo vobis veritatem, et non abscondam a vobis occultum sermonem. 12 Quando orabas cum lacrimis, et sepeliebas mortuos, et derelinquebas prandium tuum, et mortuos abscondebas per diem in domo tua, et nocte sepeliebas eos, ego obtuli orationem tuam Domino. 13 Et quia acceptus eras Deo, necesse fuit ut tentatio probaret te. 14 Et nunc misit me Dominus ut curarem te, et Saram uxorem filii tui a dæmonio liberarem. 15 Ego enim sum Raphaël angelus, unus ex septem qui adstamus ante Dominum.

[1] Literally, ‘in secret’, but as the three had already gone apart, it seems best to understand the words as referring to some gesture of secrecy.

[2] In the Aramaic text we now have, Raphael goes away without disclosing his identity.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd