Tobit’s Final Counsel

¹ And the words of Tobit’s confession came to an end. And he died in peace at one hundred and twelve years of age and was buried honourably in Nineveh.

² He was sixty-two years old when he was injured in his eyes, and after he regained sight he lived in prosperity and practised deeds of mercy, and he continued to bless God and to acknowledge God’s majesty.

³ When he was dying, he called his son Tobias and commanded him, saying, “Child, take your children

⁴ and run away to Media, because I trust God’s word concerning Nineveh, which Nahum spoke, that all these things will come to pass and befall Assyria and Nineveh. All things whatsoever that were spoken by the prophets of Israel, whom God sent, will come about, and nothing shall be lacking from all their words, but all things will come to pass in their appointed times. In Media there will be deliverance, more so than in Assyria and in Babylon. Therefore, I know and believe that all things that God said will be fulfilled and come to be, and not a single word of his speech will prove wrong. Our brothers living in the land of Israel will be scattered and taken from the good land into captivity, and all the land of Israel will be desolate, and Samaria and Jerusalem will be desolate, and the house of God will be in grief and will be burned down for a time.

⁵ But God will again have mercy on them, and God will bring them back into the land of Israel, and they will rebuild the house, though for a time not as the first one, until the span of the times is fulfilled. After this they will all return from their captivity and will rebuild Jerusalem gloriously, and the house of God will be built therein, just as the prophets of Israel spoke concerning it.

⁶ And all the nations throughout the whole earth, all will turn and fear God sincerely, and they will all abandon their lying idols, which led them astray.

⁷ And they will bless the God of the ages in righteousness. All the sons of Israel who are delivered in those days, being mindful of God with sincerity, will be gathered and will come into Jerusalem and will dwell for ever in the land of Abraham with security, and it will be given to them. And those who love God sincerely will rejoice, and those practising sin and injustice will depart from all the land.

^{8 - 9} “So now, children, I am commanding you: serve God in sincerity and do what is pleasing before him. Your children also are to be instructed to practise righteousness and mercy and to remain mindful of God and to bless his name in every time with sincerity and with all their strength. And now you, child: leave Nineveh and do not remain here.

¹⁰ In the day that you bury your mother with me, that very day do not lodge overnight within its boundaries. For I see that much injustice is within it, and much guile is perpetrated within it, and they have no shame. See, child, what Nadab did to Ahikar who had reared him: was he not brought down alive into the earth? And God repaid him to his face with dishonour, and Ahikar came out into the light and Nadab went into everlasting darkness, because he sought to kill Ahikar. By practising mercy, he stepped out of the fatal trap that Nadab set for him, and Nadab fell into the fatal trap and it destroyed him.

¹¹ So now, children, see what practising mercy brings about, and what injustice brings about— that it kills. And now my soul is departing.”

Death of Tobit and Anna

And they set him upon his bed, and he died and was buried honourably.

¹² And when his mother died, Tobias buried her with his father. Then he and his wife departed for Media, and they dwelt in Ecbatana with Raguel his father-in-law.

¹³ He looked after them honourably in their old age and he buried them in Ecbatana of Media and he inherited the property of Raguel and of Tobit his father.

¹⁴ He died honourably at the age of one hundred and seventeen years.

¹⁵ And before he died, he saw and heard about the destruction of Nineveh, and he saw her captives being led into Media, which Cyaxares the king of Media had taken captive, and he blessed God for all the things that he brought upon the sons of Nineveh and Assyria. He rejoiced over Nineveh before he died, and blessed the Lord God for ages of ages.