Tobias found a reliable fellow traveler who undertook to accompany him to a distant pagan land. He called himself Azariah (translated from Hebrew as "Help of the Lord"), but in fact it was the angel Raphael.

After seeing his son off on the road, Tobit remained waiting. Tobias and the angel came to the Tigris River in the evening of the same day. A strange incident happened to them there. When the young man was swimming, a large fish grabbed him by the leg, but he pulled it ashore. The travelers roasted it on the fire, and Azariah ordered to take the liver and bile with him. He taught Tobias how to make a potion from them to drive out evil spirits, and a cure for eye diseases. Already in the city, Azariah told the young man that there was no better bride for him than Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, for their family lived according to the Law of Moses. But Tobias had already heard about the sad end of all attempts to marry her, and he did not want to expose himself to the machinations of the demon. Azariah reminded him of the miraculous properties of the drug.

Raguel received the young man cordially, but when Azariah said that he asked for Sarah's hand for Tobias, the father was saddened. Azariah insisted, and soon the wedding was arranged. Left alone with his young wife, Tobias put the entrails of the fish on the incense burner, and from this smoke Asmodeus disappeared. The couple offered up a prayer of thanksgiving to God. "And Raguel arose, and went and dug a grave, saying, Is not this one also dead?"

When Tobias and his wife received the money, they returned to their father. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he put the fish's bile to Tobit's eyes, and Tobit regained his sight. The whole house rejoiced. The elder wanted to reward Azariah generously for his help, but he revealed himself to Tobit and all his household, declaring that he was an angel sent from God to save them. Everyone fell to the ground, and Raphael said: "Do not be afraid, peace will be to you. Bless God forever." After that, the angel became invisible.

The book ends with a thanksgiving doxology of Tobit and a description of his death.

4. The Teaching of Kn. Tobit. The prayer of the righteous man sums up, as it were, the entire theology of the book. It speaks of the blessedness of those who suffered but remained faithful, of the joy of people who have passed the test and found the mercy of God. Doxology goes beyond the peaceful boundaries of family virtues, personal faith and morality. It prophesies the punishment of Jerusalem and its restoration. When reborn, it will become a golden city, on the glittering streets of which "hallelujah" will not cease. However, it is not only the Old Testament Church that God "chastises and has mercy on, brings down to hell and exalts it" (13:2), but also the pagans. The Jews must carry out a universal mission: to bring one God into the world.

Children of Israel! Glorify him before the Gentiles; for he has scattered you among them. (13,3)

The ministry of His heralds in the future will bear great fruit:

Many nations will come from afar to the Name of the Lord God with gifts in hand, with gifts to the Heavenly King. (13,11)

Thus, in Book II. Tobit's ideal of a righteous life according to the Law of God is combined with prophetic foresight and faith in the conversion of other nations.

5. Book. Esther (Hebrew Esther) is preserved in the Hebrew and Greek texts, the former being very different from the latter. In addition, in the ancient copies, the Greek additions are arranged in different ways.

The book owes its origin to the holiday of Purim (Fate), which is also called the day of Mordecai (2 Macc 15:36). It is possible that this holiday was established in the days of the Captivity in contrast to the pagan festival of the god Marduk.

Since the Greek text was known in Egypt as early as 114 B.C., the book could not have been written earlier. Esther was probably written during the period of the struggle against pagan tyranny (the first half of the second century B.C.; see §27), but the tradition on which it is based is much older.

The book tells how the Judean Esther, having become the wife of the Iranian king Artaxerxes (Hebrew Ahasuerus, Persian Xerxes), saved her people living in the diaspora from destruction. The intrigues of Haman, the king's temporary, were directed against all the Jews. He obtained a royal decree on their extermination. Exposed by the queen, Haman was executed. And the Jews, since the royal decrees were not revoked in Iran, were allowed to offer armed resistance to their opponents.