Grief-stricken in spirit, I groaned and wept aloud.
Then with sobs I began to pray:
Tobit’s Prayer for Death
“You are righteous, O Lord,
and all your deeds are just;
All you ways are mercy and truth;
you are the judge of the world.
And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me,
and look with favor upon me.
Punish me not for my sins,
nor for my inadvertent offenses,
nor for those of my fathers.
“They sinned against you,
and disobeyed you commandments.
So you handed us over to plundering, exile,
and death,
till we were an object lesson, a byword, a
reproach
in all the nations among whom you
scattered us.
“Yes, your judgments are many and true
in dealing with me as my sins
and those of my fathers deserve.
For we have not kept your commandments,
nor have we trodden the paths of truth
before you.
“So now, deal with me as you please,
and command my life breath to be taken
form me,
that I may go from the face of the earth into
dust.
It is better for me to die that to live,
because I have heard insulting calumnies,
and I am overwhelmed with grief.
“Lord, command me to be delivered from such
anguish;
let me go to the everlasting abode;
Lord, refuse me not.
For it is better for me to die
than to endure so much misery in life,
and to hear these insults!”
