Tobit 10

How to read these pages: the text itself comes first, verse by verse, in the volume's own translation. Beneath each verse stands its Meaning — a rendering of what the passage's terms name in the inner life, drawn from the correspondences the text itself uses. The text is never altered; the meaning is offered, not imposed.

King James Version

1Now Tobit his father counted every day: and when the days of the journey were expired, and they came not,

Now Tobit his father counted every day; and when the days of the journey were expired, and they came not — the father's arithmetic of love, each expired day an argument for grief.

2Then Tobit said, Are they detained? or is Gabael dead, and there is no man to give him the money?

Then Tobit said: Are they detained? Or is Gabael dead, and there is no man to give him the money? — the blind mind reasoning among disasters it cannot see past.

3Therefore he was very sorry.

Therefore he was very sorry — sorrow as the sum of the counting.

4Then his wife said unto him, My son is dead, seeing he stayeth long; and she began to bewail him, and said,

Then his wife said to him: My son is dead, seeing he stays long; and she began to bewail him, and said — the affection concluding death from delay, and mourning beginning its work.

5Now I care for nothing, my son, since I have let thee go, the light of mine eyes.

Now I care for nothing, my son, since I have let you go, the light of my eyes — the son named as the mother's own sight: her understanding gone out of the house with him.

6To whom Tobit said, Hold thy peace, take no care, for he is safe.

To whom Tobit said: Hold your peace, take no care, for he is safe — the father's faith speaking against the evidence of the calendar.

7But she said, Hold thy peace, and deceive me not; my son is dead. And she went out every day into the way which they went, and did eat no meat on the daytime, and ceased not whole nights to bewail her son Tobias, until the fourteen days of the wedding were expired, which Raguel had sworn that he should spend there. Then Tobias said to Raguel, Let me go, for my father and my mother look no more to see me.

But she said: Hold your peace, and deceive me not; my son is dead. And she went out every day into the way which they went, and did eat no meat in the daytime, and ceased not whole nights to bewail her son Tobias, until the fourteen days of the wedding were expired, which Raguel had sworn that he should spend there. Then Tobias said to Raguel: Let me go, for my father and my mother look no more to see me — two griefs running on the same clock: the mother watching the road by day and weeping by night, while the son, at the feast's far end, feels the watching and asks release.

8But his father in law said unto him, Tarry with me, and I will send to thy father, and they shall declare unto him how things go with thee.

But his father-in-law said to him: Tarry with me, and I will send to your father, and they shall declare unto him how things go with you — the house of joy offering a message where the son wants his own return.

9But Tobias said, No; but let me go to my father.

But Tobias said: No; but let me go to my father — the son refusing the substitute: tidings will not do what a face will do.

10Then Raguel arose, and gave him Sara his wife, and half his goods, servants, and cattle, and money:

Then Raguel arose, and gave him Sara his wife, and half his goods, servants, and cattle, and money — the promised division made good at the gate.

11And he blessed them, and sent them away, saying, The God of heaven give you a prosperous journey, my children.

And he blessed them, and sent them away, saying: The God of heaven — the Source of the inner realm — give you a prosperous journey, my children — the blessing of the sorrowful house now spoken over a departing joy.

12And he said to his daughter, Honour thy father and thy mother in law, which are now thy parents, that I may hear good report of thee. And he kissed her. Edna also said to Tobias, The Lord of heaven restore thee, my dear brother, and grant that I may see thy children of my daughter Sara before I die, that I may rejoice before the Lord: behold, I commit my daughter unto thee of special trust; where are do not entreat her evil.

And he said to his daughter: Honour your father and your mother-in-law, which are now your parents, that I may hear good report of you. And he kissed her. Edna also said to Tobias: The Lord of heaven — the indwelling LORD of the inner realm — restore you, my dear brother, and grant that I may see your children of my daughter Sara before I die, that I may rejoice before the Lord; behold, I commit my daughter unto you of special trust; wherefore do not entreat her evil — the daughter committed as a trust, as the silver was committed: the book's two trusts answering each other at the parting.

Companion volume to The Why Bible — the King James Apocrypha, rendered in its spiritual meanings. First final edition, October 2026.