Deprived of all his property and all means of subsistence as a result of illness and treatment, Tobit received food for some time from the above-mentioned (I:21-22) Ahikar, until the latter withdrew to Elymais (it was Ahikar who retired to Elimais, as it is in the code Sinaisk. LXX and in Vet. latin, and not Tobit, as (επορεύθην) stands in the accepted Greek t. and Slav. transl. Elimais is the Biblical-Hebrew Elam, Greek Susianna (Genesis X:22; XIV:1, 9; Isaiah XI:11, etc.).

11. And then my wife Anna spun wool in the women's sections 12. And she sent it to rich people, who gave her wages, and once they gave her a kid to boot. 13. When they brought him to me, he began to bleat; And I asked my wife, "Where does this kid come from?" Is it not stolen? give it to whomever it belongs! for it is not lawful to eat stolen things. 14. She answered, "This was given to me in addition to the payment." But I did not believe her, and insisted that she give it to whom it belonged, and I was angry with her. And she answered and said to me, Where are your alms and righteous works? That's how they all came out on you!

11–14. When, with the removal of Ahikar to Elymais (v. 10), the last source of Tobit's resources was exhausted, his wife began to earn her living by ordinary women's work ('εν τοις γυναικείοις, i.e., έργοις, in the Sinai code; hence, women's work, and not women's rooms, or compartments, as in Slavonic), by spinning wool and cloth (cf. Proverbs XXXI:13, 19, 22, 24), receiving payment for her labor from customers (vv. 11-12a). In addition to the usual payment, Tobit's wife was once given a kid (according to the text of Vet. Lat., as well as according to the Sinai code. LXX, this happened on the 7th day of the month of Dystra, which some researchers (Graetz, Ant. Scholz, etc.) identify with the Syro-Macedonian distr (= Hebrew adar), but it is possible that "Dystr" is δύστρος, here represents the Greek transcription of Heb. Tishra, the name of the 7th month, the next goat was given to Anna, the wife of Tobit, a short time before, a week before the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. Lev XXIII:34), precisely to enable the poor family to have a better table on the coming feast (see Prof. Drozdov, pp. 483-486).

In Hannah's reproachful answer (v. 14) to Tobit's suspicions (v. 13) there is a similarity with the speech of Job's wife to him (Job II:9 (especially according to the text of the LXX Book of Job): this circumstance, as well as the similarity in general of the sufferings and deliverance from the sufferings of Tobit and Job, gave rise to some scholars (Eichhorn, Bertholdt, Weiginger, and others) to see in the book of Tobit a free imitation of the book of Job. But the similarity of this kind (which is deliberately emphasized in the text of the Vulgate, v. 15) between the two works is not anything artificial, and the conclusion just mentioned by some scholars is entirely arbitrary.

Chapter III

1–6. Tobit's prayer to God for deliverance from suffering. 7–15. A similar prayer is given by Sarah, the daughter of Raguel in the Ecbatana of the Medes. 16–17. The prayer of both was heard, and the angel Raphael was sent to save them. 1. Sorrowful, I wept and prayed with sorrow, saying: 2. Thou art righteous, O Lord, and all thy works and all thy ways are mercy and truth, and thou shalt judge with true and just judgment for ever. 3. Remember me, and look upon me: punish me not for my sins and my errors, and for my fathers, wherein they have sinned against thee. 4. For they did not listen to Thy commandments, and Thou hast delivered us up to plunder, and captivity, and death, and to a parable of reproach before all the nations among whom we are scattered. 5. And verily, Thy judgments are many and righteous, to do unto me according to my sins and the sins of my fathers, because they have not fulfilled Thy commandments, nor have they done righteousness before Thee. 6. Do with me, therefore, what pleases you; command to take my spirit, that I may be released and turned to the earth, for it is better for me to die than to live, for I hear false reproaches, and deep is the sorrow in me. Command me to deliver me from this burden to the eternal abode, and turn not Thy face away from me.

1–6. Under the weight of misfortunes: blindness, poverty, reproaches from his wife, Tobit performs a fervent prayer. This prayer as a whole and in its individual details has a strictly biblical character, and in many cases has many analogies for itself in other biblical passages, especially in various prayers contained in the Bible by well-known sacred historical persons. e.g., the words of the Psalmist Psalmist Psalm XXIV:10; the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah XXII:1); the prophet Daniel (Dan IV:34, etc.). The belief that descendants are sometimes punished for the sins of the fathers (v. 3), as is well known, runs through the entire Old Testament, found expression in the Mosaic law (Exodus XX:5; Num XIV:18), and was confirmed by various historical facts (e.g., for the sin of Ham his son Canaan was cursed, for the sin of David his son died by Bathsheba; the grave consequences of Solomon's sins had to be borne by his son Rehoboam). and although the excesses and abuses of this belief provoked prophetic condemnation and refutation (Jeremiah XXXI:29; Ezekiel XVIII:1-4), yet it persisted among the Jewish people down to the times of the New Testament, as is evident from the judgment of the apostles about the man born blind (John IX, 2). In relation to the fate of Israel, this belief had a special meaning (v. 4, cf. Deuteronomy XXIII:15), as it was professed, for example, by the prophet Daniel (Dan IX:4-13), like Tobit (vv. 4-5).

Finally, Tobit's request for death (v. 6) has an analogy in the prayers of Job (Job VII:15), the prophet Elijah (1 Kings XIX:4; cf. Commentary, Vol. II), and others, although, of course, this petition has only a relative value and significance (cf. Jonah IV:3 ff.). It goes without saying, however, that these similarities between the book of Tobit and other biblical books cannot speak in favor of the opinion (Eichhorn and others) that in Book II. Tobit we have a free imitation or development of the reports of other books of the Bible.

7. On that very day it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, in Ecbatana of the Media, was reproached by her father's handmaidens 8. because she was given to seven husbands, but Asmodeus, the evil spirit, put them to death before they were with her as a wife. And they said to her, Are you not ashamed that you have strangled your husbands? You have already had seven, but you have not called yourself by the name of any of them. 9. Why should we be beaten for them? They are dead: follow them too, so that we may never see your son or daughter! 10. When she heard this, she was very sad, so that she decided to take her own life, but she thought, "I am alone with my father; if I do this, he will be dishonored, and I will bring his old age with sorrow to hell. 11. And she prayed at the window and said, "Blessed are you, O Lord my God, and blessed is your holy and glorious name forever: may all your creatures bless you forever!" 12. And now to Thee, O Lord, I turn my eyes and my face; 13. I pray, take me away from this land, and do not let me hear any more reproach! 14. You know, O Lord, that I am clean from all sin with my husband 15. And she did not profane my name, nor the name of my father, in the land of my captivity; I am my father's only-begotten, and he has no son to succeed him, nor a near brother, nor a brother's son to whom I can keep myself as a wife: seven have already perished with me. Why should I live? And if it does not please Thee to put me to death, then be pleased to look upon me and have mercy on me, so that I may hear no more reproach!

7–15. Nor is there anything artificial or contrived between the time and content of the prayer of Tobit and that of Sarah, the daughter of Raguel (v. 7), nor is there anything artificial or contrived in the fate of these persons: piety, suffering, undeserved reproaches, etc. "The similarity is... not so great that life cannot present similar cases. The simultaneity of the prayer of Tobit and Sarah for deliverance from suffering or the sending of death is also not impossible" (Prof. Drozdov, p. 306).

Instead of Ecbatan (v. 7 in Greek, Slavic, Russian), the Vulgate calls the Para (in Rages, civitate Medorum), of which in V:8 Vulg. it is noted that Ragi is located on Mount Ecbatana (quae posita est in monte Ecbatanis).

Sarah's sevenfold marriage (v. 8) is rare, but not impossible (Matthew XXII:25-32); although, as an extraordinary event, it was the subject of reproaches from Sarah's maidservants, who falsely accused her of murder (v. 8-9). The real culprit of the instantaneous death of each of Sarah's seven husbands (each time before their actual conjugal cohabitation with her) was the evil spirit or demon Asmodeus ('Ασμοδαίος τό πονηρόν δαιμόνιον), v. 8. Attempts have been made to explain the meaning of this name from the Aryan root, but these attempts are doubtful and aimless, since the word Asmodeus is satisfactorily explained from the Hebrew-Aramaic root: shamad to destroy, to destroy, so that Asmodeus is a destroyer, a destroyer, which fully corresponds to the destructive activity of Asmodeus, according to the book of Tobit (Tob III:8; VI:13-14),[7] and finds a complete analogy in the name of the evil spirit of the destroyer Abaddon (in Greek, Apollyon, Rev. IX:11). The main point in the concept of Asmodeus, according to this etymology, is that destruction for people is a fundamental feature in general in the biblical concept of the evil spirit – Satan and demons. However, the attempt of some scholars (Benfey, Dillmann, Langin, Rim, Koguga, etc.) to connect the name of Asmodeus with one of the evil spirits or maidens of the Avesta, the aeshma-daeva, the demon of carnal passion, is not without a certain degree of probability and a certain amount of significance, since this is exactly what Asmodeus appears in the book of Tobit (VI:14). (See A. Glagolev, The Old Testament Biblical Teaching on Angels, Kiev, 1900, pp. 690-695; Prof. Drozdov, op. cit., pp. 381-393.)

Sarah prayed fervently "at the window" (v. 11), Slavic: at the window, Greek: προς τη θυρίδι, "in the upper room", είς to υπερώον (no Sinaitic. LXX), i.e., on a mezzanine on the flat roof of a house, which was usually used for rest, solitude, and prayer (Dan VI:10; Acts XX:8-9; I:13–14). To stand in prayer at an open window (Dan. VI:10, Heb. 11) in the direction of the holy land, Jerusalem, and the temple (1 Kings VIII:44) was an ancient custom, established especially during the captivity, and legitimized by the traditional law of Judaism (see Commentary, Vol. II, p. 463).

The content of Sarah's prayer (vv. 11-15), in addition to general biblical ideas, contains direct references to the individual features of Sarah's life and suffering (vv. 14-15), especially to her preservation of chastity (v. 14).