Tobit 3:1–6

Tobit’s Prayer

³Then with much grief and anguish of heart I wept, and with groaning I began to pray:

²“You are righteous, O Lord,

and all your deeds are just;

all your ways are mercy and truth;

you judge the world.^r*

³And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me

and look favorably upon me.

Do not punish me for my sins

or for my unwitting offenses

or for those of my ancestors.

They sinned against you^*

⁴and disobeyed your commandments.

So you gave us over to plunder, exile, and death,

to become the talk, the byword, and an object of reproach

among all the nations among whom you have dispersed us.^*

⁵And now your many judgments are true

in dealing with me according to my sins.

For we have not kept your commandments

and have not walked in accordance with truth before you.

⁶So now deal with me as you will;

command my spirit to be taken from me,

so that I may be released from the face of the earth and become dust.

For it is better for me to die than to live,

because I have had to listen to undeserved insults,

and great is the sorrow that attends me.

Command, O Lord, that I be released from this distress;

release me to go to the place of eternity,

and do not, O Lord, turn your face away from me.

For it is better for me to die

than to see so much distress in my life

and better not to listen to insults.”^*