Tobit 11

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Homeward Journey.1As they drew near to Kaserin, which is opposite Nineveh,2Raphael said: “You know how we left your father.3Let us hurry on ahead of your wife to prepare the house while they are still on the way.”4So both went on ahead together, and Raphael said to him, “Take the gall in your hand!” And the dog ran along behind them.

5Meanwhile, Anna sat watching the road by which her son was to come.6When she saw him coming, she called to his father, “Look, your son is coming, and the man who traveled with him!”

7Raphael said to Tobiah before he came near to his father: “I know that his eyes will be opened.8Apply the fish gall to his eyes, and the medicine will make the white scales shrink and peel off from his eyes; then your father will have sight again and will see the light of day.”

Sight Restored.9Then Anna ran up to her son, embraced him, and said to him, “Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!” And she sobbed aloud.^a10Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate to meet his son. Tobiah went up to him11with the fish gall in his hand and blew into his eyes. Holding him firmly, he said, “Courage, father.” Then he applied the medicine to his eyes, and it made them sting.12^,13Tobiah used both hands to peel the white scales from the corners of his eyes. Tobit saw his son and threw his arms around him.14Weeping, he exclaimed, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!” Then he prayed,

“Blessed be God,

blessed be his great name,

and blessed be all his holy angels.

May his great name be with us,

and blessed be all the angels throughout all the ages.

15God it was who afflicted me,

and God who has had mercy on me.

Now I see my son Tobiah!”

Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice. Tobiah related to his father how his journey had been a success; that he had brought back the money; and that he had married Raguel’s daughter Sarah, who was about to arrive, for she was near the gate of Nineveh.^b

16Rejoicing and blessing God, Tobit went out to the gate of Nineveh to meet his daughter-in-law. When the people of Nineveh saw him coming, walking along briskly, with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed.17Before them all Tobit proclaimed how God had shown mercy to him and opened his eyes. When Tobit came up to Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah, he blessed her and said: “Welcome, my daughter! Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter! Blessed are your father and your mother. Blessed be my son Tobiah, and blessed be you, daughter! Welcome to your home with blessing and joy. Come in, daughter!” That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh.18Ahiqar and his nephew Nadin^* were also on hand to rejoice with Tobit. Tobiah’s wedding feast was celebrated with joy for seven days, and many gifts were given to him.

* [11:18] Nadin: see note on 14:10.

a. [11:9] Gn 33:4; 45:14; 46:29–30; Lk 15:20.

b. [11:15] Tb 13:2; Dt 32:39; 1 Sm 2:6.

tobit 10

Anxiety of the Parents.1Meanwhile, day by day, Tobit was keeping track of the time Tobiah would need to go and to return. When the number of days was reached and his son did not appear,2he said, “Could it be that he has been detained there? Or perhaps Gabael has died, and there is no one to give him the money?”3And he began to grieve.4His wife Anna said, “My son has perished and is no longer among the living!” And she began to weep aloud and to wail over her son:5“Alas, child, light of my eyes, that I have let you make this journey!”6But Tobit kept telling her: “Be still, do not worry, my sister; he is safe! Probably they have to take care of some unexpected business there. The man who is traveling with him is trustworthy and one of our kindred. So do not grieve over him, my sister. He will be here soon.”7But she retorted, “You be still, and do not try to deceive me! My son has perished!” She would rush out and keep watch every day at the road her son had taken. She ate nothing. After the sun had set, she would go back home to wail and cry the whole night through, getting no sleep at all.^a

Departure from Ecbatana. Now when the fourteen days of the wedding celebration, which Raguel had sworn to hold for his daughter, had come to an end, Tobiah went to him and said: “Send me off, now, since I know that my father and mother do not believe they will ever see me again. So I beg you, father, let me depart and go back to my own father. I have already told you how I left him.”8Raguel said to Tobiah: “Stay, son, stay with me. I am sending messengers to your father Tobit, and they will give him news of you.”9But Tobiah insisted, “No, I beg you to send me back to my father.”

10Raguel then promptly handed over to Tobiah his wife Sarah, together with half of all his property: male and female slaves, oxen and sheep, donkeys and camels, clothing, money, and household goods.11He saw them safely off. Embracing Tobiah, he said to him: “Farewell, son. Have a safe journey. May the Lord of heaven grant prosperity to you and to your wife Sarah. And may I see children of yours before I die!”12Then he said to his daughter Sarah, “My daughter, honor your father-in-law and your mother-in-law, because from now on they are as much your parents as the ones who brought you into the world. Go in peace, daughter; let me hear a good report about you as long as I live.” Finally he said good-bye to them and let them go.

Edna also said to Tobiah: “My child and beloved kinsman, may the Lord bring you back safely, and may I live long enough to see children of you and of my daughter Sarah before I die. Before the Lord, I entrust my daughter to your care. Never cause her grief all the days of your life. Go in peace, son. From now on I am your mother, and Sarah is your sister. Together may we all prosper throughout the days of our lives.” She kissed them both and saw them safely off.

13Tobiah left Raguel, full of happiness and joy, and he blessed the Lord of heaven and earth, the King of all, for making his journey so successful. Finally he blessed Raguel and his wife Edna, and added, “I have been commanded by the Lord to honor you all the days of your life!”

a. [10:7] Gn 45:26.

tobit 9

The Money Recovered.1Then Tobiah called Raphael and said to him:2“Brother Azariah, take along with you from here four servants and two camels and travel to Rages.^* Go to Gabael’s house and give him this bond. Get the money and then bring him along with you to the wedding celebration.3For you know that my father will be counting the days. If I should delay even by a single day, I would cause him intense grief.4You have witnessed the oath that Raguel has sworn; I cannot violate his oath.”5So Raphael, together with the four servants and two camels, traveled to Rages in Media, where they stayed at Gabael’s house. Raphael gave Gabael his bond and told him about Tobit’s son Tobiah, that he had married and was inviting him to the wedding celebration. Gabael got up and counted out for him the moneybags with their seals, and they packed them on the camels.

6The following morning they both got an early start and traveled to the wedding celebration. When they entered Raguel’s house, they found Tobiah reclining at table. He jumped up and greeted Gabael, who wept and blessed him, exclaiming: “Good and noble child, son of a good and noble, righteous and charitable man, may the Lord bestow a heavenly blessing on you and on your wife, and on your wife’s father and mother. Blessed be God, because I have seen the very image of my cousin Tobit!”

tobit 8

Expulsion of the Demon.1When they had finished eating and drinking, they wanted to retire. So they brought the young man out and led him to the bedroom.2Tobiah, mindful of Raphael’s instructions, took the fish’s liver and heart from the bag where he had them, and put them on the embers intended for incense.^*3The odor of the fish repulsed the demon, and it fled to the upper regions of Egypt;^* Raphael went in pursuit of it and there bound it hand and foot. Then Raphael returned immediately.

4When Sarah’s parents left the bedroom and closed the door behind them, Tobiah rose from bed and said to his wife, “My sister, come, let us pray and beg our Lord to grant us mercy and protection.”5She got up, and they started to pray and beg that they might be protected. He began with these words:

“Blessed are you, O God of our ancestors;

blessed be your name forever and ever!

Let the heavens and all your creation bless you forever.^a

6You made Adam, and you made his wife Eve

to be his helper and support;

and from these two the human race has come.

You said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone;

let us make him a helper like himself.’^b

7Now, not with lust,

but with fidelity I take this kinswoman as my wife.

Send down your mercy on me and on her,

and grant that we may grow old together.

Bless us with children.”

---

8They said together, “Amen, amen!”9Then they went to bed for the night.

But Raguel got up and summoned his servants. They went out with him and dug a grave,10for he said, “Perhaps Tobiah will die; then we would be a laughingstock and an object of mockery.”11When they had finished digging the grave, Raguel went back into the house and called his wife,12saying, “Send one of the maids in to see whether he is alive. If he has died, let us bury him without anyone knowing about it.”13They sent the maid, lit a lamp, and opened the bedroom door; she went in and found them sleeping together.14The maid came out and told them that Tobiah was alive, and that nothing was wrong.15Then they praised the God of heaven in these words:

“Blessed are you, God, with every pure blessing!

Let all your chosen ones bless you forever!

16Blessed are you, for you have made me happy;

what I feared did not happen.

Rather you have dealt with us

according to your abundant mercy.

17Blessed are you, for you have shown mercy

toward two only children.

Grant them, Master, mercy and protection,

and bring their lives to fulfillment

with happiness and mercy.”

18Then Raguel told his servants to fill in the grave before dawn.

Wedding Feast.19He asked his wife to bake many loaves of bread; he himself went out to the herd and brought two steers and four rams, which he ordered to be slaughtered. So they began to prepare the feast.20He summoned Tobiah and said to him, “For fourteen days^* you shall not stir from here, but shall remain here eating and drinking with me; you shall bring joy to my daughter’s afflicted spirit.21Now take half of what I own here; go back in good health to your father. The other half will be yours when I and my wife die. Take courage, son! I am your father, and Edna is your mother; we belong to you and to your sister both now and forever. So take courage, son!”

* [8:2–3] The manner of coping with demonic influences among the ancients seems strange to us. However, the fish here is a folktale element, suggesting the hero’s fight with a dragon, and not a recipe for exorcism. It is clear that the author places primary emphasis on the value of prayer to God (6:18; 8:4–8), on the role of the angel as God’s agent, and on the pious disposition of Tobiah.

* [8:3] The desert was considered the dwelling place of demons. Cf. Is 13:21; 34:14; Mt 4:1; 12:43.

* [8:20] For fourteen days: because of the happy, and unexpected, turn of events, Raguel doubles the time of the wedding feast. When Tobiah returns home, the usual seven-day feast is held (11:18). Cf. Jgs 14:12.

a. [8:5] Dn 3:26.

b. [8:6] Gn 2:18–23.

生物学

Causes of Variability from on the origen of the species

Causes of Variability. Effects of Habit. Correlation of Growth. Inheritance. Character of Domestic Varieties. Difficulty of distinguishing between Varieties and Species. Origin of Domestic Varieties from one or more Species. Domestic Pigeons, their Differences and Origin. Principle of Selection anciently followed, its Effects. Methodical and Unconscious Selection. Unknown Origin of our Domestic Productions. Circumstances favourable to Man's power of Selection.

When we look to the individuals of the same variety or sub-variety of our older cultivated plants and animals, one of the first points which strikes us, is, that they generally differ much more from each other, than do the individuals of any one species or variety in a state of nature. When we reflect on the vast diversity of the plants and animals which have been cultivated, and which have varied during all ages under the most different climates and treatment, I think we are driven to conclude that this greater variability is simply due to our domestic productions having been raised under conditions of life not so uniform as, and somewhat different from, those to which the parent-species have been exposed under nature. There is, also, I think, some probability in the view propounded by Andrew Knight, that this variability may be partly connected with excess of food. It seems pretty clear that organic beings must be exposed during several generations to the new conditions of life to cause any appreciable amount of variation; and that when the organisation has once begun to vary, it generally continues to vary for many generations. No case is on record of a variable being ceasing to be variable under cultivation. Our oldest cultivated plants, such as wheat, still often yield new varieties: our oldest domesticated animals are still capable of rapid improvement or modification.

It has been disputed at what period of life the causes of variability, whatever they may be, generally act; whether during the early or late period of development of the embryo, or at the instant of conception. Geoffroy St. Hilaire's experiments show that unnatural treatment of the embryo causes monstrosities; and monstrosities cannot be separated by any clear line of distinction from mere variations. But I am strongly inclined to suspect that the most frequent cause of variability may be attributed to the male and female reproductive elements having been affected prior to the act of conception. Several reasons make me believe in this; but the chief one is the remarkable effect which confinement or cultivation has on the functions of the reproductive system; this system appearing to be far more susceptible than any other part of the organisation, to the action of any change in the conditions of life. Nothing is more easy than to tame an animal, and few things more difficult than to get it to breed freely under confinement, even in the many cases when the male and female unite. How many animals there are which will not breed, though living long under not very close confinement in their native country! This is generally attributed to vitiated instincts; but how many cultivated plants display the utmost vigour, and yet rarely or never seed! In some few such cases it has been found out that very trifling changes, such as a little more or less water at some particular period of growth, will determine whether or not the plant sets a seed. I cannot here enter on the copious details which I have collected on this curious subject; but to show how singular the laws are which determine the reproduction of animals under confinement, I may just mention that carnivorous animals, even from the tropics, breed in this country pretty freely under confinement, with the exception of the plantigrades or bear family; whereas, carnivorous birds, with the rarest exceptions, hardly ever lay fertile eggs. Many exotic plants have pollen utterly worthless, in the same exact condition as in the most sterile hybrids. When, on the one hand, we see domesticated animals and plants, though often weak and sickly, yet breeding quite freely under confinement; and when, on the other hand, we see individuals, though taken young from a state of nature, perfectly tamed, long-lived, and healthy (of which I could give numerous instances), yet having their reproductive system so seriously affected by unperceived causes as to fail in acting, we need not be surprised at this system, when it does act under confinement, acting not quite regularly, and producing offspring not perfectly like their parents or variable.

Sterility has been said to be the bane of horticulture; but on this view we owe variability to the same cause which produces sterility; and variability is the source of all the choicest productions of the garden. I may add, that as some organisms will breed most freely under the most unnatural conditions (for instance, the rabbit and ferret kept in hutches), showing that their reproductive system has not been thus affected; so will some animals and plants withstand domestication or cultivation, and vary very slightly—perhaps hardly more than in a state of nature.

feeling groovy

christ

When I see the blood

1. Christ our Redeemer died on the cross,
   Died for the sinner, paid all his due;
   Sprinkle your soul with the blood of the Lamb,
   And I will pass, will pass over you.
   • Refrain:
     When I see the blood,
     When I see the blood,
     When I see the blood,
     I will pass, I will pass over you.
2. Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will save;
   As He has promised, that He will do;
   Wash in the fountain opened for sin,
   And I will pass, will pass over you.
3. Judgment is coming, all will be there,
   Each one receiving justly his due;
   Hide in the saving sin-cleansing blood,
   And I will pass, will pass over you.
4. O great compassion! O boundless love!
   O loving-kindness, faithful and true!
   Find peace and shelter under the blood,
   And I will pass, will pass over you.

E. A. H. is likely Elisha A. Hoffman.

when i see the blood, i will Passover you