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Home > Bible > Tobit > Chapter 6
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Tobit Chapter 6

By the angel's advice young Tobias takes hold on a fish that assaults him. Reserves the heart, the gall, and the liver for medicines. They lodge at the house of Raguel, whose daughter Sarah, Tobias is to marry; she had before been married to seven husbands, who were all slain by a devil.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him, and he lodged the first night by the river of Tigris. 2 And he went out to wash his feet, and behold a monstrous fish came up to devour him. 3 And Tobias being afraid of him, cried out with a loud voice, saying: Sir, he cometh upon me. 4 And the angel said to him: Take him by the gill, and draw him to thee. And when he had done so, he drew him out upon the land, and he began to pant before his feet. 5 Then the angel said to him: Take out the entrails of this fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee: for these are necessary for useful medicines. 6 And when he had done so, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way: the rest they salted as much as might serve them, till they came to Rages the city of the Medes. 7 Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish? 8 And the angel, answering, said to him: If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them. Its heart, etc. The liver (verse 19)... God was pleased to give these things a virtue against those proud spirits, to make them, who affected to be like the Most High, subject to such mean corporeal creatures as instruments of his power. 9 And the gall is good for anointing the eyes, in which there is a white speck, and they shall be cured.

10 And Tobias said to him: Where wilt thou that we lodge? 11 And the angel answering, said: Here is one whose name is Raguel, a near kinsman of thy tribe, and he hath a daughter named Sara, but he hath no son nor any other daughter beside her. 12 All his substance is due to thee, and thou must take her to wife. 13 Ask her therefore of her father, and he will give her thee to wife. 14 Then Tobias answered, and said: I hear that she hath been given to seven husbands, and they all died: moreover I have heard, that a devil killed them. 15 Now I am afraid, lest the same thing should happen to me also: and whereas I am the only child of my parents, I should bring down their old age with sorrow to hell. Hell... That is, to the place where the souls of the good were kept before the coming of Christ. 16 Then the angel Raphael said to him: Hear me, and I will show thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail. 17 For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power. 18 But thou when thou shalt take her, go into the chamber, and for three days keep thyself continent from her, and give thyself to nothing else but to prayers with her. 19 And on that night lay the liver of the fish on the fire, and the devil shall be driven away. 20 But the second night thou shalt be admitted into the society of the holy Patriarchs. 21 And the third night thou shalt obtain a blessing that sound children may be born of you. 22 And when the third night is past, thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, moved rather for love of children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayst obtain a blessing in children.

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Profectus est autem Tobias, et canis secutus est eum, et mansit prima mansione juxta fluvium Tigris. 2 Et exivit ut lavaret pedes suos, et ecce piscis immanis exivit ad devorandum eum. 3 Quem expavescens Tobias clamavit voce magna, dicens: Domine, invadit me. 4 Et dixit ei angelus: Apprehende branchiam ejus, et trahe eum ad te. Quod cum fecisset, attraxit eum in siccum, et palpitare cœpit ante pedes ejus. 5 Tunc dixit ei angelus: Exentera hunc piscem, et cor ejus, et fel, et jecur repone tibi: sunt enim hæc necessaria ad medicamenta utiliter. 6 Quod cum fecisset, assavit carnes ejus, et secum tulerunt in via: cetera salierunt, quæ sufficerent eis, quousque pervenirent in Rages civitatem Medorum. 7 Tunc interrogavit Tobias angelum, et dixit ei: Obsecro te, Azaria frater, ut dicas mihi quod remedium habebunt ista, quæ de pisce servare jussisti? 8 Et respondens angelus, dixit ei: Cordis ejus particulam si super carbones ponas, fumus ejus extricat omne genus dæmoniorum sive a viro, sive a muliere, ita ut ultra non accedat ad eos. 9 Et fel valet ad ungendos oculos in quibus fuerit albugo, et sanabuntur.

10 Et dixit ei Tobias: Ubi vis ut maneamus? 11 Respondensque angelus, ait: Est hic Raguel nomine, vir propinquus de tribu tua, et hic habet filiam nomine Saram, sed neque masculum neque feminam ullam habet aliam præter eam. 12 Tibi debetur omnis substantia ejus, et oportet eam te accipere conjugem. 13 Pete ergo eam a patre ejus, et dabit tibi eam in uxorem. 14 Tunc respondit Tobias, et dixit: Audio quia tradita est septem viris, et mortui sunt: sed et hoc audivi, quia dæmonium occidit illos. 15 Timeo ergo, ne forte et mihi hæc eveniant: et cum sim unicus parentibus meis, deponam senectutem illorum cum tristitia ad inferos. 16 Tunc angelus Raphaël dixit ei: Audi me, et ostendam tibi qui sunt, quibus prævalere potest dæmonium. 17 Hi namque qui conjugium ita suscipiunt, ut Deum a se et a sua mente excludant, et suæ libidini ita vacent sicut equus et mulus quibus non est intellectus: habet potestatem dæmonium super eos. 18 Tu autem cum acceperis eam, ingressus cubiculum, per tres dies continens esto ab ea, et nihil aliud nisi orationibus vacabis cum ea. 19 Ipsa autem nocte, incenso jecore piscis, fugabitur dæmonium. 20 Secunda vero nocte in copulatione sanctorum patriarcharum admitteris. 21 Tertia autem nocte, benedictionem consequeris, ut filii ex vobis procreentur incolumes. 22 Transacta autem tertia nocte, accipies virginem cum timore Domini, amore filiorum magis quam libidine ductus, ut in semine Abrahæ benedictionem in filiis consequaris.

Copyright © 2008 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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