TOBIT CHAPTER 8 - 14

TOBIT 8

1 When they had done eating they brought
Tobias to her in his lot.
He went minding Raphael’s command,
And took the ashes in his hand
Of the perfume and put the heart
And the fish liver on the part
And made a smoke upon the sand.
3The evil spirit when he smelled
Fled out to the Egyptian veldt,
And there the angel bound and held.

Few men when in the chamber of the fair
First start out to perfume endangered air.
Attention is taken up by the form
And beauty of the lady in the storm
Of hormones. I think Tobias was wise
And thoughtful to remember of the guise
The angel taught him to put on his flies.
The evil spirit fled to Egypt’s bourn
And held there by the angel was forsworn.
Beloved, I turn my eyes about this world
That is a chamber of love and unfurled,
And before I rest in Your love uncurled,
I lay heart and liver upon the fire
And open my perfumes to Your desire.

4 When they were both shut in together
Tobias rose from the bed’s tether
And said ”Now sister, rise and pray,
That God have pity on our way.”
5 Tobias started out to pray,
”Blessed be You, our fathers’ God and
Blessed Your holy, glorious name’s stand,
Let the skies bless You and in them
All creatures. 6 ”You have made Adam
And gave him Eve [life] his wife to help,
And from them all humankind’s whelp
Have come, then You said ‘It’s not good
A man be alone in the wood,
Let’s make an aid just like himself.’
7 ”And now, O Lord, I take no elf
In lust, but in my righteousness
This sister of mine, so let be
That we may reach togetherly
Our full age.” 8 They both said ”Amen.”
9 They both slept there that night and then
Raguel rose to dig a den
In sepulchre, 10 saying lest he
Be also dead. 11 But when Raguel
Returned to the house like a fool.
12 He said to Edna his wife, ”Send
One of the maid servants to bend
An eye to know if he’s alive,
And if not to bury and strive
That no one know what we contrive.”
13 So the maid opened up the door,
And found them both asleep to snore.
14 And she came out and gave the news
That he still had a living fuse.

I should have gone with dragging feet to find
The locked door and the shutters on the blind,
If I had been a servant-girl in kind
Who worked for Raguel on the fateful morn
When Asmodeus was first caught and shorn.
I should have knocked at least before the tread
That opened up the honeymooners’ bed.
But she was brave and quietly released
The lock that had both lovers once policed,
And found the tangled pair there fast asleep.
I should have done otherwise. Secrets keep.
Beloved, let no one tiptoe in the room
Where I lie on Your breast in Your perfume
From now until the fated day of doom.

15 Then praised Raguel God and said
”O Ælohim, You’re one instead
Worthy of praise in purity
And holiness, therefore let be
That all Your saints with what You make
Praise You, and all Your angels wake
And Your elect praise You for aye.
16 ”May You be praised, and so I try
Because You’ve lent me joy withal
In that it did not come in stall
What I feared, but You’ve dealt with us
According to Your mercy’s bus.
17 ”May You be praised because You took
Mercy on two who had to look
To be the only children of
Their parents and both sought in love,
So grant them grace, O Lord and bring
Their lives to term with health to sing
In joy and mercy under wing.”
18 So Raguel told his men to fill
Up the grave he’d dug on the hill.
19 And he feasted the wedding for
Fourteen days in all, what is more.
20 For before the fortnight was done
Raguel made him swear for fun
That he should not depart until
The fortnight of the wedding fill.
21 Then he should take half of his goods
And go in safety through the woods
To his father and have the rest
When he and wife should bite the breast.

Raguel jumped the gun by digging graves
For courtiers and refugees and slaves
Until the habit with his sons-in-law
Kept him digging with every hand and claw.
In that he’s like his cousin on the round,
Tobit who dug graves everywhere they’re found.
This story’s one about digging of holes
And seeing to the flight of righteous souls.
Even a wedding has to have a turn
At delving in the soil for alms that earn.
Beloved, I dig a futile grave as You
Create a miracle of life in view.
Let habits fail, Beloved, and teach my hand
To take the unexpected in the land.

TOBIT 9

1 Tobias called Raphael and said
To him, 2 “Brother Azarias,
Take a servant, two camels bred
With you and go then to Rages
In Media to Gabael
And get the gold that I have well,
And bring him to the wedding feast.
3 “For Raguel’s sworn I shall not leave.
4 But my dad’s counting on his sleeve
The days that I’m gone and increased.
If I stay long, he’ll be upset.”
5 Raphael went out and there he met
Gabael and delivered the writ,
And he brought out bags without slit
And gave them to him, the whole kit.
6 And early in the morning they
Both went up for the wedding day.
And Tobias blessed his wife’s way.

The man was Swiss. I’m sure the man was Swiss.
If he’d been German or Dutch, no, I miss
The point. The man was honest and contrived
To save the silver bags for the deprived.
God bless Gabael for honesty and store,
For fruitful lands and commerce and for more.
I wonder what has happened now to those
Descended from far Gabael on his toes.
Geography’s not clear in this tale’s woes,
But somewhere in the land of Kurds there may
Be some Jews left. Or did the troubled way
Of Israelite idolatry bear sway,
To make them disappear? Have they gone back
After two thousand five hundred years’ flack?

TOBIT 10

1 Father Tobit counted each day,
And when the time of the trip’s sway
Came to an end and they did not
Come back, 2 he wondered, said “What plot
Could have detained them? Or maybe
Gabael has died and no one’s free
To give him some of the money?”
3 And he was very much distressed.
4 His wife told him, “You should have guessed
The lad is dead, the long delay
Has nothing else that it could say.”
Then she began to cry and say
5 “Am I not sad, my child, that I
Let you go, delight of my eye?”
6 But Tobit told her, “Stop your crying
And do not worry he is dying.”
7 And she answered, “Then stop your lying,
My child has perished for such vying.”
She went out to the road each day
By which they had taken their way,
And she ate nothing by daylight,
And never stopped crying by night
For her son Tobias until
The wedding fortnight feast fulfil
Which Raguel had sworn that he
Should pass there with them in the spree.

Mark this, Beloved, though mother said she thought
Her son was dead for all the father wrought,
Still she went out to sit beside the road
And bear the brunt of sun, without abode
The clatter of the rain upon her head
To pull about her chador and instead
Wait patiently, or not, with tears and hope
That her son had survived, known how to cope.
Beloved, I fail to see You in the light
Of patterned universe, the city’s plight,
And yet I take my seat here day by day
To find in changing seasons a hope’s ray.
The silence and the growing and decay
All bring Your image still before my sight.

Then Tobias said to Raguel,
“Send me back, for my dad as well
As mother have lost hope to see
Me ever coming back home free.”
8 But his father-in-law told him,
“Stay here and let me send out trim
Messengers to your father and
They’ll tell him how things with you stand.”
9 Tobias answered, “No, let me
Go back to my father freely.”
10 Raguel arising gave to him
His wife Sarah and gear and trim
In half of all his property,
In slaves and cattle and money.
11 After he’d blessed them, sent away
Saying “The God of heaven’s sway
Prosper you, my children, before
I die.” 12 He also told the score
To his daughter, “Honour the more
Your father-in-law also your
Mother-in-law, they’re now your folk.
Let me hear only good things spoke.”
So he kissed her. And Edna said
To Tobias, “The Lord instead
Of heaven bring you safely back,
Dear brother, and grant me no slack
To see your children by my own
Daughter Sarah, so I may own
Joy before YHWH. So I entrust
My daughter to you, nothing must
Grieve her, but keep her safe alone.”

Some might think that the speeches over long
Reflect the traditions of making song
And epic, but I witness without wrong
That in those places such speeches today
Often occur to send folk on their way.
Beloved, I praise You, Creator of speech,
For the tongue that You give to each and each,
In measure to all men and women too
Who have the spell to speak a word to You.
Speech is the proof of Your divinity.
How could a lesser one in deity
Invent such charms and foibles of the key
To human hearts than tongue of destiny?
Beloved, it goes beyond philosophy.

TOBIT 11

1 Tobias then went on his way,
Praising Ælohim all the day
Because He’d granted fortune to
His journey that he had to do.
And he blessed Raguel and his wife
Edna without both drum and fife.
And so he travelled on his trip
Till he came to Niniveh’s hip.
2 Raphael then to Tobias said
“Do you mind, brother, of the bed
In which you left your father drawn?
3 “Let’s go in advance of the dawn
And of your wife and so set right
The house. 4 “And take the fish gall sprite
With you.” And so they gathered speed
While the dog followed in his greed.

Hi! Here’s a note I did not hope to find!
Tobias did not leave his dog behind,
But when he left both mom and dad to go
Into the dangers of the desert row,
And over mountain passes to the brink
Of life he did not even stop to think
Of leaving home his dog. I say “Good show!”
A guard dog is a fine one to enjoy,
A sheep dog even better to employ,
And on the hunt a hound is wild with joy,
But here Tobias whistles to the boy,
And brings him home with him to keep the song
A homely one when howled and lifted long.
This dervish dog wags tail not to annoy.

5 Anna sat looking down the road
Intently for her son bestowed.
6 When she saw the first glimpse of him,
She said to his father in trim,
“See now your son is coming back,
As well as his companion’s track.”
7 Said Raphael, “Tobias, I
Know your dad will open his eye.
8 “So you must put this gall upon
His eyes, and when the sting is drawn
He’ll massage them and make the white
Coating come off, and he will see
You.” 9 Anna then ran out freely
To greet them and she kissed her son
And said to him, “Now it is done
I’ve seen you once again, so I
May come in peace, lie down to die.”
And they both then began to cry.

Anna waits for Tobias as did one
Who waited on a score of years to run
Before he found at last Egyptian son
On the right hand of Pharaoh for a while.
So is the mother’s and the father’s guile.
They’re ready to greet death since life’s fulfilled
In having a glimpse of successful billed.
I too wait by the path, Beloved, for You,
And when I see You all my hopes come true,
And life is lived to fullness and I find
That death itself can no more make me blind.
Who touch the joy of vision in the calm
Light of Your presence in both leaf and psalm
Relinquish every other care and balm.

10 When Tobit moved toward the door
He stumbled to fall on the floor,
But his son came to him 11 and took
Hold of his father, made him look
And poured the gall on his dad’s eyes,
Saying “Father, be in joy’s pries.”
12 And when his eyes began to sting,
He massaged them, 13 and the white thing
Pealed from the corners of his eyes.
14 He saw his son and kissed him and
He cried and said “Blessed are You grand
Ælohim, and blessed is Your name
For ever, and blessed are all Your
Holy angels score upon score.
15 “Though You have here afflicted me,
You’ve also on me poured mercy,
My son Tobias here I see.”
His son came in with joy and he
Told his father the great news of
How in Media he fell in love.

Tobit has waited eight years of his life
For healing of his eyes because the strife
Of king and hoodlum forced his hand to work
Against unlawful produce of the dirk.
Tobit waits not believing day shall rise
Bright visible upon his open eyes,
And yet when joy broke in to call his name
His eyes were also opened just the same.
The day that brings turmoil brings more than one,
The day that brought back home the missing son
Brought wealth and light and love upon the plate
More than he could have hoped who had to wait.
Beloved, I wait on You and find the rod
Is borne and then the sudden, opened pod.

16 Then Tobit set out to encounter
His daughter-in-law to dismount her
At Niniveh’s gate and in joy
The praise of Ælohim employ.
Those who saw him go down the street
Were then astonished at the feat
Because he saw who came to greet.
17 Tobit gave thanks before them all
That Ælohim in bin and stall
Was merciful to him. And then
When Tobit came near Sarah’s glen
His daughter-in-law, gladly he
Blessed her, saying “Now daughter, see
That you are welcome. Ælohim
Be blessed who has brought you on beam
To us, and blessed your dad and mom.”
So there was joy in all the troop
Of brothers in Nineveh’s group.
18 Ahikar came, also Nadab
His nephew, 19 and with the confab
They feasted Tobias’ wedding
For seven days to dance and sing.

I’d think that seven days would be enough
To satisfy the wildest in the rough,
And yet the week extends to two, just watch
The road to elegance and then to potch.
The oriental wedding is a thing
That spreads out on the sands to make a king
And queen of simple pairs caught in the ring
Of barley harvest, after that the sleep
Of summer heat for everyone to keep.
Beloved, I see the dancing round about
The oaks where sacrificial goat looks out,
And hear the drum and oboe and the shout
And laughter till the day moves from the sheep
Toward the glimmer of the starry deep.

TOBIT 12

1 And then Tobit summoned his son
Tobias and told him begun,
“My son, look to the pay of him
Who went with you to keep you trim,
And he must also received more.”
2 He answered, “Father, as for store
I would not suffer at the door
To give him half that I’ve brought back.
3 “For he has kept me without slack
And brought me to you safe, and cured
My wife, and the money secured
For me, and also made you well.”
4 The old man said “He’s earned the spell.”
5 He called the angel and told him,
”Take half of all the gear and trim
That you two have brought back and sound.”

The human heart is generous when bound
To find a kindness and sweetness of sound.
The man named Azariah’s hardly found
When I go out to get help in my weight.
I look about the yellow-painted gate
To find the one to help me, though I’m late
The help I find is that of robber and
The one to take advantage of my stand.
Beloved, so few are loving in the way,
And yet those few, though far between the ray
Make all the universe worth weight of gold.
If no man is found among young or old,
You send an angel to be shy or bold
And take the magic slice out of the cold.

6 The angel took the two around
In private and told them, “Now praise
Ælohim and thank all His ways,
Exalt Him and give thanks to Him
Before all living things and grim
For what He’s accomplished for you.
Good praise is to the Ælohim
To exalt His name the supreme,
Stating the acts of Ælohim.
Do not be slack to give Him thanks.
7 “Let kings’ secrets stay in their banks,
But publicize Ælohim’s acts.
Do good and evil artefacts
Will not trip you up in their pacts.
8 “Prayer’s good to follow fasting and
Almsgiving and the righteous stand.
A little wealth with righteousness
Is better than wrongdoing’s stress.
It’s better to stay poor with alms
Than to keep gold upon one’s palms.

Raphael the angel speaks a word to show
The way that humankind should always go.
Prayer’s good and fasting to rebuild the clime
By which almsgiving comes to redeem time.
The pillars of good action thus are stated
And given to the people as related
By angel from the sky and from the place
Where You, Beloved, give orders to the race.
I follow Raphael to find Your throne
Is fortunate where prayer and sigh and groan
Come before You at hand of angel fair
Ready to fly in aid and anywhere.
The true faith shines upon the jewelled stair
That leads to where You reign and You alone.

9 “Almsgiving saves a man from death,
And it will cleanse from sinful breath.
Those who do deeds of charity
And righteousness have full life’s fee,
10 “But those who do acts wickedly
Are their own living’s enemy.
11 “I’ll not conceal a thing from you.
I’ve said ‘It’s good to keep from view
The secret of the kingly crew,
But proclaim acts of Ælohim.’
12 “And so, when you and Sarah prayed,
Your daughter-in-law, it would seem,
I brought remembrance in parade
Of your prayer before Holy One,
And when you buried the dead spun,
I was also beside your gun.
13 “When you did not stop to eat but
Got up to lay out the dead shut,
Your gracious action was laid bare
Before me, I was with you there.
14 “So now Ælohim sent me out
To heal you and to bring about
The curing of your Sarah too,
Your daughter-in-law now in view.
15 “I’m Raphael one of the seven
Holy angels who up in heaven
Present the prayers of saints and go
Into the presence of the glow
Of the Holy One to make show.”

The man may think that he’s alone for dust
To see the clinging gateway and the rust
Where no eye of earthly command intrudes
To play a game of passion or of feuds.
But fact is there are eyes about the glen
That follow all the actions done by men,
And there are eyes of beast and jinn in fen
To trip the level learning from their den.
Beloved, I seek the angel eyes and know
That with compassion such follow the show
Incredible of human state and row.
Beloved, I find the angel waiting where
I least expected long-forgotten stare,
And bow in fear and faith, and bow in prayer.

16 They both in fear fell on their faces
For they were afraid of such graces.
17 But he said to them, “Do not be
Afraid, but you’ll abide safely.
Praise Ælohim forever fee.
18 “For I did not come on my part
As a favour, but at the start
Of our God’s will. Therefore praise Him
For ever, and do not grow dim.
19 “All this time I just came to you
In appearance and did not eat
Or drink, but you saw a mere feat.
20 “And so give thanks to Ælohim,
For I am going up on beam
To Him who sent me. Write a book
Of everything you saw and took.”
21 So they stood up and looked around
And saw nothing nor heard a sound.
22 Then they confessed the great and grand
Works of Ælohim on each hand
And knew the angel of YHWH wrought
Before their eyes the holy plot.

Men fall upon their faces when they see
That angels tread the dark eternity
Where human flickerings are wont to be.
Men fall upon their faces at the sound
Of kings arriving on the feinted ground
To give them honour as they’re honour-bound.
Men fall upon their faces before You,
Beloved, and take off the unholy shoe.
I too fall on my face as is the law
Before You and before Your throne of awe,
And like Tobit and like Tobias rise
To find that nothing’s to be seen. My eyes
Though they are blind, I know Your glory there
Is brighter than my eye’s attempt to share.

TOBIT 13

1 Then Tobit wrote a prayer of joy,
And said “Blessed is God to employ
Who lives for ever, and blessed be
His kingdom and eternally.
2 “For He afflicts and shows mercy,
He leads down to hell and brings out
Again, and there is no one stout
Escaping from His hand in rout.
3 “Proclaim Him before all the folk,
O sons of Israel, as He spoke
He scattered us among their yoke.
4 “Make known His greatness there and yet
Exalt Him where all living set,
Because He is our Lord and God,
Our Father ever on the sod.
5 “He’ll strike us for iniquity,
And then again show His mercy,
And gather us from all the lands
Among whom You have scattered bands.

Indeed, I have been stricken, but the load
Of lust that brought on me your rod and goad
Was hardly less, since it’s created by
The same hand that came down to sordid spy.
And yet, I find the cudgel followed near
By mercy falling on my failing ear,
And finding at the thrust repentant tear.
The God who strikes in love or anger’s veil
Cannot but sharpen love on mercy’s tale.
So I make known, Beloved, Your mercy and
Your greatness here and throughout all the land,
Exalt You where all living things are set
Because You are Lord and Ælohim met.
Beneath the glory proclaimed here I stand.

6 “Turn you to Him with all your heart
And all Your soul, to do your part
Before Him, then He’ll turn to you
And will not hide His face from you.
But see what He will do with you,
Give thanks to Him with full voice due.
7 “So I exalt my Ælohim,
My soul lifts praises to the beam
Of heaven’s King, and raises joy
To His majesty’s grand employ.
8 “May every human tongue give Him
Thanks due Him in Jerusalem.
9 “Jerusalem, the holy town,
He will strike you for your deeds down,
Your sons’ deeds, but again will show
Your righteous sons His mercy’s glow.
10 “Give the praise due to YHWH and raise
The King of ages up in praise,
His tabernacle may be pitched
For you again and with joy switched.
May He encourage those in you
Who are captives, and love in you
The distressed to all generations
Forever and ever in rations.
11 “Nations in number from afar
Come to the name of YHWH and star
Of Ælohim, bringing their gifts
In hand to heaven’s King it lifts.
The generations’ generations
Give you joyful praise in their stations.
12 “Cursed be all who hate you and blessed
Forever those who love your breast.

I shall not curse the city nor the slum
That rises from the hill Jerusalem.
I’ve seen the gates and towers, the stony sod
And wondered that it could be house of God.
It seems made of the merest dust and sky,
It seems no better than the place I lie.
And yet it is a door that opens wide
To David’s psalms and in the mosquely tide
Reveals a sweetness that abides the gloom
Of bloodshed often seen upon its room.
Jerusalem looks out upon the hills
And finds the laughter that at last instils
The longing for the place of throne and doom.
Jerusalem is both a crèche and tomb.

13 “Joy and be glad for righteous sons
Gather together in their tons
To praise the righteous YHWH. 14 “How blessed
Are those who love you! They’re addressed
In the joy of your peace and rest.
Blessed are the grief-stricken by all
Your afflictions that still appal,
For they’ll rejoice for you to see
All your glory and so gladly
Forever. 15 “Let my soul give praise
To Ælohim the King of days.
16 “Jerusalem will be built by
Sapphires and emeralds to vie,
Her walls with precious stones, her towers
And fortresses with pure gold showers.
17 Jerusalem’s streets will be paved
With beryl and ruby and saved
With stones of Ophir, 18 “all her lanes
Will cry ‘Hallelujah’ for gains
Of praise, and say ‘Ælohim’s blessed
Forever who’s raised you to rest.’”

I find no sapphires set within the walls
Of old Jerusalem, only in stalls
Of sellers, who despite change of regime
Always find their place in the plot and scheme.
I find no emeralds with leafy green
Relenting under dusty topaz sheen
Of street and stone, I find no valued place
For gem and gold, but yet I find Your face.
You hold a child and cover with a shawl
Your head from curious glance and under pall
Hold out a pleading hand for coin or such
That must feed one child and not over much.
You come so boldly, my Beloved, to spy
Upon a world laid bare beneath the sky.

TOBIT 14

1 Here Tobit ended words of praise.
2 Fifty-eight years old in his days
Was he coming to lose his sight,
And after eight years came the light.
He gave alms and held constant fear
Of YHWH Ælohim in his ear,
And made his praise to Him appear.
3 When he was old he called his son
And grandsons and told him when done,
“My son, take your sons now and see
I have grown old and suddenly
Shall die. 4 “Go to Media, my
Son, for I truly think it nigh
What Jonah the prophet decried
About Niniveh on the side,
That it will be destroyed. But in
Media there’ll be peace from din.
Our brothers will be scattered wide
In all the world from the good land,
Jerusalem desolate stand.
The house of Ælohim will be
Burned and in ruins for a wee.
5 But Ælohim will have mercy
On them and bring them back again
Into their land, and then the men
Will rebuild Ælohim’s house then,
Although it will not be as great
As the one before in its state,
Until the end of time brings fate.
After this they’ll come back again
To place of captivity’s den,
And build Jerusalem as bright.
And Ælohim’s house in their sight
Will be rebuilt there in the might
Of glory built in generations
For ever past prophets’ narrations.
6 Then all the nations shall too turn
To fear YHWH Ælohim and earn
The truth, and bury idols’ weight.
7 All the nations will praise YHWH great,
And His folk will give Ælohim
Thanks and YHWH exalted to seem
Before His people. Who love YHWH
Ælohim in truth and who do
Righteousness will rejoice and show
Mercy to our brothers that go.

The universal trust and faith that shows
Among the prophets dressed in woollen clothes
Resounds in Tobit’s prophecy that those
Of all nations shall worship You who rose
From ashes and from broken stones to find
The rulership the holy cities bind.
The true faith is not that of kinship’s love
Alone, nor is it found in push and shove,
But only in the way all men must go
Within the heart and temple of the slow.
Beloved, let righteousness abound and be
Found among all peoples, among the free
As well as among slaves of wealth and power,
As well as among slaves of place and hour.

8 “So now, my son, leave Nineveh,
Because of what the prophets say,
What Jonah prophesied that day.
9 But keep the law, the commandment,
Be merciful and just, decent,
So you may live well in your tent.
10 “Bury me as is proper and
Your mother with me by my hand.
Do not live in Nineveh more.
See, my son, what Nadab in store
Did to Ahikar who raised him,
How from light brought him down to grim
Darkness, and what he gave to him.
But Ahikar was saved from him
Who got avenged as he went down
Into the darkness of the town.
Ahikar gave alms and escaped
The trap of death that Nadab aped
For him, but Nadab fell into
The snare and perished in his due.
11 “So now, my children, give a thought
To what almsgiving here has wrought
And how righteous deed saved the lot.”

The rise and fall of men is known, and yet
Few there be who mind and who don’t forget.
The rush to fame and fortune at the gold
Is still the favoured set among the bold.
Though men arise and fall, the same is true
Of empires and of cities under dew.
So Jonah had to prophesy and wait
Beneath the gourd outside the city gate.
Despite Your mercy, my Beloved, I see
That every city falls unfaithfully,
And none is the eternal, no, not Rome
Nor Athens, nor Jerusalem, nor home
In Makkah, yet the faith shall still repair
To find Your face above the empty air.

When he said this he died in bed.
He was a hundred years instead
And fifty-eight years old, and so
Tobias made for him a grand
Burying in the strangers’ land.
And when Anna died he then took
Her and buried in his dad’s nook.
Then Tobias went with his wife
And his sons the love of his life
Back to Ecbatane to find
Raguel his father-in-law kind.
13 He grew old with respect and he
Gave his father-in-law freely
And mother-in-law burying
In state and grandeur on the wing.
He inherited property
From them and from Tobit his dad.
14 He died in Ecbatane free
In Media at the great age
Of one hundred and yet a stage,
Twenty-seven years on the page.
15 Before he died he heard the news
Of Nineveh’s fall in the stews
Nebuchadnezzar came to make,
And Ahasuerus to rake.
Before his death he came to joy
That Nineveh lay to destroy.

The promise of the Decalogue is great
That honour to one’s parents is in fate
Long life, and so the lesson of this writ
For Tobit and Tobias is as fit:
Who dies over a century is bold
In having buried mom and dad when cold
With honour after a long life unsold,
But given to their praise and to their share.
Beloved, let my parents meet the same lot
After a life of honour from my plot,
And may the blessing that Tobit once got
For righteousness be covered everywhere
That moms and dads receive what’s right and fair.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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