Tobit 4

¹ The same day, Tobit remembered the silver that he had left with Gabael at Rhages in Media

² and thought, ‘I have come to the point of praying for death; I should do well to call my son Tobias and tell him about the money before I die’.

³ He summoned his son Tobias and told him: ‘When I die, give me an honourable burial. Honour your mother, and never abandon her all the days of your life. Do all that she wants, and give her no reason for sorrow.

⁴ <5 Remember, my child, all the risks she ran for your sake when you were in her womb. And when she dies, bury her at my side in the same grave.

⁵ <6 ‘My child, be faithful to the Lord all your days. Never entertain the will to sin or to transgress his laws. Do good works all the days of your life, never follow ways that are not right;

⁶ for if you act in truthfulness, you will be successful in all your actions, as all men are if they practise what is right.

⁷ ‘Set aside part of your goods for almsgiving. Never turn your face from any poor man and God will never turn his from you.

⁸ Measure your alms by what <9 you have; if you have much, give more; if you have little, give less, but do not be mean in giving alms.

⁹ <10 By doing so, you will lay up for yourself a great treasure for the day of necessity.

¹⁰ <11 For almsgiving delivers from death and saves men from passing down to darkness.

¹¹ <12 Alms is a most effective offering for all those who give it in the presence of the Most High.

¹² ‘My child, avoid all loose conduct. Choose a wife of your father’s stock. Do not take a foreign wife outside your father’s tribe, because we are the sons of the prophets. Remember Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our ancestors from the beginning. All of them took wives from their own kindred, and they were blessed in their children, and their race will inherit the earth.

¹³ You, too, my child, must prefer your own brothers; never presume to despise your brothers, the sons <14 and daughters of your people; choose your wife from among them. For pride brings ruin and much worry; idleness causes need and poverty, for the mother of famine is idleness.

¹⁴ <15 ‘Do not keep back until next day the wages of those who work for you; pay them at once. If you serve God you will be rewarded. Be careful, my child, in all you do, well-disciplined in all your behaviour.

¹⁵ <16 Do to no one what you would not want done to you. Do not drink wine to the point of drunkenness; do not let excess be your travelling companion.

¹⁶ <17 ‘Give your bread to those who are hungry, and your clothes to those who are naked. Whatever you own in plenty, devote a proportion to almsgiving; and when you give alms, do not do it grudgingly.

¹⁷ <18 Be generous with bread and wine on the graves of virtuous men, but not for the sinner.

¹⁸ <19 Ask advice of every wise person; never scorn any profitable advice.

¹⁹ <20 Bless the Lord God in everything; beg him to guide your ways and bring your paths and purposes to their end. For wisdom is not given to every nation; the Lord himself gives all good things. At his will he lifts up or he casts down to the depths of the dwelling of the dead. So now, my child, remember these precepts and never let them fade from your heart.

²⁰ <21 Now, my child, I must tell you I have left ten talents of silver with Gabael son of Gabrias, at Rhages in Media

²¹ <23 Do not be afraid, my child, if we have grown poor. You have great wealth if you fear God, if you shun every kind of sin and if you do what is pleasing to the Lord your God.’