Tobit 12

Raphael Says Who He Is

1Then Tobit called Tobias his son and said to him: “My child, see to the wage for the man who traveled with you — and something must be added for him.” 2And he said to him: “Father, I take no loss in giving him half of what I have brought back, 3since he brought me home to you safe and sound, and cured my wife, and fetched my silver, and cured you as well.” 4And the old man said: “That is his due.” 5So he summoned the angel and told him: “Take half of everything the two of you have brought back.” 6Then he called them both aside, out of hearing, and said to them: “Bless God and give him thanks. Ascribe greatness to him, and give him thanks in front of every living creature for what he has done for you. It is good to bless God and to lift his name high, setting out the account of God’s works with honor. Do not be slow to give him thanks. 7A king’s secret is best kept hidden, but the works of God are to be uncovered in glory. Do good, and no evil will overtake you. 8Prayer is good, and with it fasting and almsgiving and righteousness. Better a little with righteousness than a great deal with injustice. Finer to give alms than to hoard up gold. 9For almsgiving rescues a man from death, and it will wash away every sin. Those who give alms and do what is right will have their fill of life; 10but those who sin are the enemies of their own life. 11I will keep nothing at all hidden from you. I did say that a king’s secret is best kept hidden, but that the works of God are to be uncovered in glory. 12And now: when you prayed, you and Sarah your daughter-in-law, it was I who carried the memorial of your prayer up before the Holy One. And when you were burying the dead, in the same way I was there beside you. 13And when you did not hold back from getting up and leaving your dinner to go and lay out a dead man, your good deed did not escape me: I was with you. 14And now God has sent me to heal you and Sarah your daughter-in-law. 15I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels. We carry the prayers of the holy ones upward, and we pass in before the glory of the Holy One.” 16The two of them were shaken, and they fell on their faces, for they were afraid. 17And he said to them: “Do not be afraid. Peace will be yours. Bless God forever. 18For it was not as a favor of my own that I came, but by the will of our God. So bless him forever. 19All these days I was visible to you, and I ate nothing and drank nothing: what you were looking at was a vision. 20And now give thanks to God, for I am going up to the one who sent me. And write in a book everything that has been brought to pass.” 21And they stood up, and they saw him no more. 22And they gave thanks for God’s works, great and full of wonder, and for the way the angel of the Lord had shown himself to them.