ToBIt

Tobit is a book of the Bible that is included in the canons of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches as part of the Old Testament, but is generally regarded as non-canonical by most Protestant traditions. It is one of the deuterocanonical books and is not present in the Hebrew Bible. The author is unknown, and scholars date its composition to the late Hellenistic period, roughly the 2nd century BCE, drawing on older Jewish traditions. The text exists in Greek in the Septuagint, with later versions in Latin and other languages.

The narrative centers on Tobit, a devout and charitable Israelite living in Nineveh who becomes blind. His son, Tobias, undertakes a journey to Media to retrieve a debt owed to Tobit. Guided by the archangel Raphael, who travels incognito as Azariah, Tobias encounters a number of trials and, at the same time, falls in love with Sarah, a woman afflicted by a demon that has slain her previous seven husbands. Raphael instructs Tobias in rites to safeguard the marriage and, crucially, directs him to use the liver and heart of a fish to drive away the demon, and later to apply the fish’s gall to Tobit’s eyes to heal his blindness. Tobias returns to Nineveh with money and is married to Sarah; Tobit’s prayers and blessings conclude the tale, followed by a deathbed blessing of his son.

The book emphasizes themes such as righteousness, almsgiving, filial piety, and the providence of God, with angels playing a direct role in human affairs. Its literary form blends didactic instruction with narrative adventure, and it has had a significant influence on Jewish and Christian devotional and ethical traditions.