The Book of Tobit

A domestic story with an angel in it. Tobit, a devout exile in Nineveh, goes blind; far away a young widow named Sarah is tormented by a demon. Their two hopeless situations are resolved through one journey, taken by Tobit's son with a travelling companion who turns out to be the archangel Raphael.

Testament

Old (14 chapters)

Type

Deuterocanon

Date

Probably the third or early second century BC, though set centuries earlier in the Assyrian exile.

Ordinary faithfulness

Tobit's piety is small and domestic — burying the dead, giving alms, keeping the law where nobody is watching. The book is unusual in Scripture for how much attention it gives to household virtue rather than national events.

Providence you cannot see

The reader knows Raphael is an angel from early on; the characters do not. The whole plot turns on help that arrives disguised as a competent stranger, which is the book's answer to the question of where God is during a private disaster.

Key verses (KJV)

“Do that to no man which thou hatest: drink not wine to make thee drunken: neither let drunkenness go with thee in thy journey.” — Tobit 4:15 (KJV)

“It is good to keep close the secret of a king, but it is honourable to reveal the works of God. Do that which is good, and no evil shall touch you.” — Tobit 12:7 (KJV)

How to read Tobit

Read it in one sitting, as a story. It is short, it has a plot, and it rewards being read the way a novella is rather than mined for verses.

Read Tobit on your iPhone

Read the full book of Tobit in Quiethaven — choose your translation, read offline, and pick up where you left off. Pair it with a daily verse and a prayer timer.

More Old Testament books

• The Book of Judith
• The Book of Wisdom of Solomon
• The Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
• The Book of Baruch
• The Book of 1 Maccabees

Frequently asked questions

What is the Book of Tobit about?

Tobit is a book of Deuterocanon, running to 14 chapters. Its main threads: Ordinary faithfulness; Providence you cannot see.

Who wrote the Book of Tobit?

Anonymous. Written in Aramaic or Hebrew and preserved in Greek; fragments of both were found at Qumran, which settled a long argument about whether it was a Greek composition.

Where does Tobit come in the Bible?

Tobit is one of the seven deuterocanonical books — part of the Catholic and Orthodox Old Testament, and printed in the Apocrypha of some Protestant Bibles rather than in the canon. That is why a Protestant Bible has 66 books and a Catholic one 73.