Tobit 8

The Empty Grave, the Feast

5 passages

Overview

On their wedding night, Tobias and Sarah pray together and burn the fish's organs to drive away the demon Asmodeus, who is bound by the angel Raphael; Raguel, having dug a grave in secret dread, discovers the couple alive and sleeping peacefully, bursts into a hymn of thanksgiving to God, orders the grave filled in, and commands a fourteen-day wedding feast while binding Tobias by oath and pledging him half his estate.

Passages

1–3Smoke and Binding: The Flight of Asmodeus 4–8A Marriage Lifted to God: The Wedding Night Prayer of Tobias and Sarah 9–14The Grave Dug in Fear, the Sleepers Found Alive 15–17Raguel's Hymn of Thanksgiving to God 18–21The Feast, the Oath, and the Inheritance: Raguel's Covenant with Tobias

Study Resources

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Tobit 8

¹When they had finished their supper, they brought Tobias in to her. ²But as he went, he remembered the words of Raphael, and took the ashes of the incense, and put the heart and the liver of the fish on them, and made smoke with them. ³When the demon smelled that smell, it fled into the uppermost parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him. ⁴But after they were both shut in together, Tobias rose up from the bed, and said, “Sister, arise, and let’s pray that the Lord may have mercy on us.” ⁵And Tobias began to say, “Blessed are you, O God of our fathers, and blessed is your holy and glorious name forever. Let the heavens bless you, and all your creatures. ⁶You made Adam, and gave him Eve his wife for a helper and support. From them came the seed of men. You said, it is not good that the man should be alone. Let’s make him a helper like him. ⁷And now, O Lord, I take not this my sister for lust, but in truth. Command that I may find mercy and grow old with her.” ⁸She said with him, “Amen.” And they both slept that night. ⁹Raguel arose, and went and dug a grave, ¹⁰saying, “Lest he also should die.” ¹¹And Raguel came into his house, ¹²and said to Edna his wife, “Send one of the maidservants, and let them see if he is alive. If not, we will bury him, and no man will know it.” ¹³So the maidservant opened the door, and went in, and found them both sleeping, ¹⁴and came out, and told them that he was alive. ¹⁵Then Raguel blessed God, saying, “Blessed are you, O God, with all pure and holy blessing! Let your saints bless you, and all your creatures! Let all your angels and your elect bless you forever! ¹⁶Blessed are you, because you have made me glad; and it has not happened to me as I suspected; but you have dealt with us according to your great mercy. ¹⁷Blessed are you, because you have had mercy on two that were the only begotten children of their parents. Show them mercy, O Lord. Fulfill their life in health with gladness and mercy. ¹⁸He commanded his servants to fill the grave. ¹⁹He kept the wedding feast for them fourteen days. ²⁰Before the days of the wedding feast were finished, Raguel sware to him, that he should not depart till the fourteen days of the wedding feast were fulfilled; ²¹and that then he should take half of his goods, and go in safety to his father; and the rest, said he, when my wife and I die.

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