1 Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.
2 Humble thy heart, and endure: incline thy ear, and receive the words of understanding: and make not haste in the time of clouds.
3 Wait on God with patience: join thyself to God, and endure, that thy life may be increased in the latter end.
4 Take all that shall be brought upon thee: and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience.
5 For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.
6 Believe God, and he will recover thee: and direct thy way, and trust in him. Keep his fear, and grow old therein.
7 Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy: and go not aside from him, lest ye fall.
8 Ye that fear the Lord, believe him: and your reward shall not be made void.
9 Ye that fear the Lord, hope in him: and mercy shall come to you for your delight.
10 Ye that fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts shall be enlightened.
11 My children behold the generations of men: and know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded.
12 For who hath continued in his commandment, and hath been forsaken? or who hath called upon him, and he despised him?
13 For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation: and he is a protector to all that seek him in truth.
14 Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways.
15 Woe to them that are fainthearted, who believe not God: and therefore they shall not be protected by him.
16 Woe to them that have lost patience, and that have forsaken the right ways, and have gone aside into crooked ways.
17 And what will they do, when the Lord shall begin to examine?
18 They that fear the Lord, will not be incredulous to his word: and they that love him, will keep his way.
19 They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well pleasing to him: and they that love him, shall be filled with his law.
20 They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls.
21 They that fear the Lord, keep his Commandments, and will have patience even until his visitation,
22 Saying: If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men.
23 For according to his greatness, so also is his mercy with him.
1 Now when I was come home again, and my wife Anna was restored unto me, with my son Tobias, in the feast of Pentecost, which is the holy feast of the seven weeks, there was a good dinner prepared me, in the which I sat down to eat.
2 And when I saw abundance of meat, I said to my son, Go and bring what poor man soever thou shalt find out of our brethren, who is mindful of the Lord; and, lo, I tarry for thee.
3 But he came again, and said, Father, one of our nation is strangled, and is cast out in the marketplace.
4 Then before I had tasted of any meat, I started up, and took him up into a room until the going down of the sun.
5 Then I returned, and washed myself, and ate my meat in heaviness,
6 Remembering that prophecy of Amos, as he said, Your feasts shall be turned into mourning, and all your mirth into lamentation.
7 Therefore I wept: and after the going down of the sun I went and made a grave, and buried him.
8 But my neighbours mocked me, and said, This man is not yet afraid to be put to death for this matter: who fled away; and yet, lo, he burieth the dead again.
9 The same night also I returned from the burial, and slept by the wall of my courtyard, being polluted and my face was uncovered:
10 And I knew not that there were sparrows in the wall, and mine eyes being open, the sparrows muted warm dung into mine eyes, and a whiteness came in mine eyes: and I went to the physicians, but they helped me not: moreover Achiacharus did nourish me, until I went into Elymais.
11 And my wife Anna did take women’s works to do.
12 And when she had sent them home to the owners, they paid her wages, and gave her also besides a kid.
13 And when it was in my house, and began to cry, I said unto her, From whence is this kid? is it not stolen? render it to the owners; for it is not lawful to eat any thing that is stolen.
14 But she replied upon me, It was given for a gift more than the wages. Howbeit I did not believe her, but bade her render it to the owners: and I was abashed at her. But she replied upon me, Where are thine alms and thy righteous deeds? behold, thou and all thy works are known.