BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Tobit 14 — Tobit's Final Counsel and the Fate of Nineveh
Tobit's final words direct his sons to Media, predict Nineveh's downfall and Jerusalem's future glory, and praise almsgiving and righteousness before his death at 158.
Scripture
1Tobit’s Final Counsel Here Tobit ended his words of praise.
2He was fifty-eight years old when he lost his sight, and after eight years he regained it. He gave alms, and he continued to fear the Lord God and to praise him.
3When he had grown very old he called his son and grandsons, and said to him, “My son, take your sons; behold, I have grown old and am about to depart this life.
4Go to Media, my son, for I fully believe what Jonah the prophet said about Nin′eveh, that it will be overthrown. But in Media there will be peace for a time. Our brethren will be scattered over the earth from the good land, and Jerusalem will be desolate. The house of God in it will be burned down and will be in ruins for a time.
5But God will again have mercy on them, and bring them back into their land; and they will rebuild the house of God, though it will not be like the former one until the times of the age are completed. After this they will return from the places of their captivity, and will rebuild Jerusalem in splendor. And the house of God will be rebuilt there with a glorious building for all generations for ever, just as the prophets said of it.
6Then all the Gentiles will turn to fear the Lord God in truth, and will bury their idols.
7All the Gentiles will praise the Lord, and his people will give thanks to God, and the Lord will exalt his people. And all who love the Lord God in truth and righteousness will rejoice, showing mercy to our brethren.
8“So now, my son, leave Nin′eveh, because what the prophet Jonah said will surely happen.
9But keep the law and the commandments, and be merciful and just, so that it may be well with you.
10Bury me properly, and your mother with me. And do not live in Nin′eveh any longer. See, my son, what Nadab did to Ahi′kar who had reared him, how he brought him from light into darkness, and with what he repaid him. But Ahi′kar was saved, and the other received repayment as he himself went down into the darkness. Ahi′kar gave alms and escaped the deathtrap which Nadab had set for him; but Nadab fell into the trap and perished.
11So now, my children, consider what almsgiving accomplishes and how righteousness delivers.” As he said this he died in his bed. He was a hundred and fifty-eight years old; and Tobi′as gave him a magnificent funeral.
12And when Anna died he buried her with his father. Death of Tobit and Anna Then Tobi′as returned with his wife and his sons to Ecbat′ana, to Rag′uel his father-in-law.
13He grew old with honor, and he gave his father-in-law and mother-in-law magnificent funerals. He inherited their property and that of his father Tobit.
14He died in Ecbat′ana of Media at the age of a hundred and twenty-seven years.
15But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nin′eveh, which Nebuchadnez′zar and Ahasu-e′rus had captured. Before his death he rejoiced over Nin′eveh.
What this passage means
The chapter functions as Tobit's deathbed testament, gathering the themes of the book — almsgiving, righteousness, fear of God, and fidelity to the law — into a final charge to his descendants (vv. 3, 9, 11). The summary statement that he was 58 when he lost his sight and regained it eight years later (v. 2) frames his life as one of testing followed by restoration, mirroring the book's larger movement from affliction to healing. Almsgiving is again singled out as the practice that delivers from death (v. 11), echoing the teaching given earlier by Raphael and by Tobit himself.
The second movement of the chapter is prophetic. Tobit tells his son to leave Nineveh and go to Media because Jonah's word against the city will certainly be fulfilled (vv. 4, 8). He then expands the horizon to Jerusalem: the holy city and its temple will be burned and lie desolate for a time, but God will have mercy, the exiles will return, and the house of God will be rebuilt in splendor for all generations (vv. 4–5). A universal turn of the Gentiles to the fear of the Lord, the abandonment of idols, and the rejoicing of those who love God in truth close the prophetic section (vv. 6–7).
The chapter closes with a narrative postscript. The story of Ahiqar's faithfulness versus Nadab's treachery is cited as proof that righteousness delivers (v. 10). Tobit dies in bed at 158, is given a magnificent funeral, and his wife Anna is later buried with him (v. 11–12). Tobias returns to Ecbatana, lives with honor, gives Raguel and Edna splendid funerals, inherits their estate along with his father's, dies there at 127, and is said to have heard of Nineveh's capture and rejoiced over it before his own death (vv. 12–15). The closing line thus confirms that Jonah's prophecy, which Tobit had cited, came to pass.
Context
The chapter sits at the end of a short deuterocanonical narrative whose main concerns have been Tobit's faithfulness in exile, the family restoration through his son Tobias, and the angel Raphael's hidden role. The narrative frame of Tobit's life — from the loss of sight at 58 to its recovery after eight years, and death at 158 — brackets the story with the numerical symmetry already established in earlier chapters.
Verse 10 introduces Ahiqar, a figure who does not appear elsewhere in the supplied material. Tobit uses his story, in which the faithful man is saved and the treacherous man Nadab falls into his own trap, as a concrete illustration of the principle that almsgiving and righteousness deliver (v. 11). The chapter also provides a brief narrative of Tobias's later life, his return to Ecbatana, and the report of Nineveh's capture, linking Tobit's words about Jonah to their fulfillment.
Common questions
Why does Tobit tell his son to go to Media?
Tobit predicts that Nineveh, where they live, will be overthrown as Jonah prophesied, and that Media will have peace for a time (vv. 4, 8). He therefore counsels his son to leave Nineveh and settle in Media with his wife's family.
What does Tobit say about Jerusalem and the temple?
He says the house of God in Jerusalem will be burned and remain in ruins for a time, but God will again have mercy, bring the people back, and the house of God will be rebuilt in glory for all generations, though not like the former one until the age is completed (vv. 4–5).
Why is the story of Ahiqar and Nadab mentioned here?
Tobit uses Ahiqar's faithfulness and Nadab's treacherous downfall as a concrete example of his closing principle that almsgiving and righteousness deliver from death (vv. 10–11).