Tobit 14

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

1So Tobit made an end of praising God.

So Tobit made an end of praising God — the song finished, the life returning to its final counsels.

2And he was eight and fifty years old when he lost his sight, which was restored to him after eight years: and he gave alms, and he increased in the fear of the Lord God, and praised him.

And he was eight and fifty years old when he lost his sight, which was restored to him after eight years; and he gave alms, and he increased in the fear of the Lord God, and praised Him — the numbers kept exact: eight years of darkness, and mercy-giving continuing on both sides of it.

3And when he was very aged he called his son, and the sons of his son, and said to him, My son, take thy children; for, behold, I am aged, and am ready to depart out of this life.

And when he was very aged he called his son, and the sons of his son, and said to him: My son, take your children; for, behold, I am aged, and am ready to depart out of this life — the dying counsel gathering three generations into one room.

4Go into Media my son, for I surely believe those things which Jonas the prophet spake of Nineve, that it shall be overthrown; and that for a time peace shall rather be in Media; and that our brethren shall lie scattered in the earth from that good land: and Jerusalem shall be desolate, and the house of God in it shall be burned, and shall be desolate for a time;

Go into Media, my son, for I surely believe those things which Jonas the prophet — the forth-telling faculty — spoke of Nineve, that it shall be overthrown; and that for a time peace shall rather be in Media; and that our brethren shall lie scattered in the earth from that good land; and Jerusalem — the established center of spiritual consciousness — shall be desolate, and the house of God in it shall be burned, and shall be desolate for a time: prophecy believed at the deathbed, and the family's road ordered by it.

5And that again God will have mercy on them, and bring them again into the land, where they shall build a temple, but not like to the first, until the time of that age be fulfilled; and afterward they shall return from all places of their captivity, and build up Jerusalem gloriously, and the house of God shall be built in it for ever with a glorious building, as the prophets have spoken thereof.

And that again God will have mercy on them, and bring them again into the land, where they shall build a temple — the established sanctuary-state — but not like to the first, until the time of that age be fulfilled; and afterward they shall return from all places of their captivity, and build up Jerusalem gloriously, and the house of God shall be built in it for ever with a glorious building, as the prophets have spoken thereof — the return held as certain as the desolation: mercy has the last clause.

6And all nations shall turn, and fear the Lord God truly, and shall bury their idols.

And all nations shall turn, and fear the Lord God truly, and shall bury their idols — their formed images of lesser goods, worshipped in God's place: the images not smashed in hatred but buried, laid to rest by the hands that made them.

7So shall all nations praise the Lord, and his people shall confess God, and the Lord shall exalt his people; and all those which love the Lord God in truth and justice shall rejoice, shewing mercy to our brethren.

So shall all nations praise the indwelling LORD, and His people shall confess God, and the LORD shall exalt His people; and all those which love the Lord God in truth and justice shall rejoice, showing mercy to our brethren — the vision widening from one family's road to all nations at praise.

8And now, my son, depart out of Nineve, because that those things which the prophet Jonas spake shall surely come to pass.

And now, my son, depart out of Nineve, because those things which the prophet Jonas spoke shall surely come to pass — the counsel narrowed again to the single act: depart.

9But keep thou the law and the commandments, and shew thyself merciful and just, that it may go well with thee.

But keep the law — the written order of the divine life — and the commandments, and show yourself merciful and just, that it may go well with you: the whole inheritance of counsel in one sentence.

10And bury me decently, and thy mother with me; but tarry no longer at Nineve. Remember, my son, how Aman handled Achiacharus that brought him up, how out of light he brought him into darkness, and how he rewarded him again: yet Achiacharus was saved, but the other had his reward: for he went down into darkness. Manasses gave alms, and escaped the snares of death which they had set for him: but Aman fell into the snare, and perished.

And bury me decently, and your mother with me; but tarry no longer at Nineve. Remember, my son, how Aman handled Achiacharus that brought him up, how out of light — understanding — he brought him into darkness — unilluminated consciousness — and how he rewarded him again: yet Achiacharus was saved, but the other had his reward; for he went down into darkness. Manasses gave alms, and escaped the snares of death which they had set for him; but Aman fell into the snare, and perished — the last lesson a pair of examples: ingratitude digging its own darkness, mercy-giving slipping the snare set for it.

11Wherefore now, my son, consider what alms doeth, and how righteousness doth deliver. When he had said these things, he gave up the ghost in the bed, being an hundred and eight and fifty years old; and he buried him honourably.

Wherefore now, my son, consider what alms do, and how righteousness delivers. When he had said these things, he gave up the ghost in the bed, being an hundred and eight and fifty years old; and he buried him honourably — the book's whole doctrine spoken as a last word: mercy-giving and rightness deliver; and the state that taught it laid honourably to rest.

12And when Anna his mother was dead, he buried her with his father. But Tobias departed with his wife and children to Ecbatane to Raguel his father in law,

And when Anna his mother was dead, he buried her with his father. But Tobias departed with his wife and children to Ecbatane to Raguel his father-in-law — the mother's grave beside the father's, as Tobit charged in chapter four; and the departure obeyed to the letter.

13Where he became old with honour, and he buried his father and mother in law honourably, and he inherited their substance, and his father Tobit’s.

Where he became old with honour, and he buried his father and mother-in-law honourably, and he inherited their substance, and his father Tobit's — honour answering honour across the generations, and the two houses' substance gathered into one.

14And he died at Ecbatane in Media, being an hundred and seven and twenty years old.

And he died at Ecbatane in Media, being an hundred and seven and twenty years old — the son's years outnumbering the road's dangers by a lifetime.

15But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus: and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve.

But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus; and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve — the prophecy of Jonas fulfilled within the son's hearing: the sense-city that mocked the burials fallen at last, and the healed house rejoicing not in vengeance but in the word made true.

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