Tobias leaves his dinner to bury the dead: he loses his sight by God’s permission, for manifestation of his patience.
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In truth, after this, when there was a feast day of the Lord, and a good dinner had been prepared in the house of Tobit,
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he said to his son: “Go, and bring some others who fear God from our tribe to feast with us.”
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And after he had gone, returning, he reported to him that one of the sons of Israel, with his throat cut, was lying in the street. And immediately, he leapt from his place reclining at table, left behind his dinner, and went forth with fasting to the body.
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And taking it up, he carried it in secret to his house, so that, after the sun had set, he might bury him cautiously.
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And after he had hidden the body, he chewed his bread with mourning and fear,
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remembering the word that the Lord spoke through the prophet Amos: “Your feast days shall be turned into lamentation and mourning.”
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Truly, when the sun had set, he went out, and he buried him.
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Yet all his neighbors argued with him, saying: “Now, an order was given to execute you because of this matter, and you barely escaped a death sentence, and again you are burying the dead?”
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But Tobit, fearing God more than the king, stole away the bodies of the slain and concealed them in his house, and in the middle of the night, he buried them.
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But it happened one day, being tired from burying the dead, he came into his house, and he threw himself down next to the wall, and he slept.
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And, as he was sleeping, warm droppings from a swallow’s nest fell upon his eyes, and he was made blind.
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And so the Lord permitted this trial to befall him, in order that an example might be given to posterity of his patience, which is even like that of holy Job.
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For, even from his infancy, he had always feared God and kept his commandments, so he was not discouraged before God because of the scourge of blindness that had befallen him.
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But he remained immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life.
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For just as kings have mocked blessed Job, so also his relatives and acquaintances ridiculed his life, saying:(a) (b)
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“Where is your hope, on behalf of which you gave alms and buried the dead?”
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In truth, Tobit corrected them, saying: “Do not speak in this way,
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for we are the sons of the holy ones, and we look forward to that life which God will give to those who never change in their faith before him.”
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In truth, his wife Anna went out to weaving work daily, and she brought back the provisions that she was able to obtain by the labor of her hands.
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Whereupon it happened that, having received a young goat, she brought it home.
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When her husband heard the sound of its bleating, he said, “Look, so that it might not be stolen, return it to its owners, for it is not lawful for us either to eat, or to touch, anything stolen.”
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At this, his wife, being angry, answered, “Clearly, your hope has become vanity, and the manner of your almsgiving has become apparent.”
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And with these and other similar such words, she reproached him.
Footnotes