Tobit 9

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

1Then Tobias called Raphael, and said unto him,

Then Tobias called Raphael, and said to him — the son turning to the guide for the errand he himself cannot leave to run.

2Brother Azarias, take with thee a servant, and two camels, and go to Rages of Media to Gabael, and bring me the money, and bring him to the wedding.

Brother Azarias, take with you a servant, and two camels, and go to Rages of Media to Gabael, and bring me the money, and bring him to the wedding — the original errand of the journey folded into the feast: the trust honoured even from within the detainment of love.

3For Raguel hath sworn that I shall not depart.

For Raguel has sworn that I shall not depart — the oath of the marriage holding the son in place.

4But my father counteth the days; and if I tarry long, he will be very sorry.

But my father counts the days; and if I tarry long, he will be very sorry — the son counting with his father's counting, across the distance.

5So Raphael went out, and lodged with Gabael, and gave him the handwriting: who brought forth bags which were sealed up, and gave them to him.

So Raphael went out, and lodged with Gabael, and gave him the handwriting; who brought forth bags which were sealed up, and gave them to him — the token honoured, the sealed substance surrendered at sight of the father's writing: trust kept intact through blindness, distance, and years.

6And early in the morning they went forth both together, and came to the wedding: and Tobias blessed his wife.

And early in the morning — the dawning of the new state — they went forth both together, and came to the wedding; and Tobias blessed his wife — the money arriving not as the journey's prize but as a guest at the marriage.

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