BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Tobit 3: Two Prayers Heard and Raphael Sent
Two sufferers pray for death on the same day, and God sends Raphael to deliver both of them.
Scripture
1Tobit’s Prayer Then in my grief I wept, and I prayed in anguish, saying,
2“Righteous art thou, O Lord; all thy deeds and all thy ways are mercy and truth, and thou dost render true and righteous judgment for ever.
3Remember me and look favorably upon me; do not punish me for my sins and for my unwitting offenses and those which my fathers committed before thee.
4For they disobeyed thy commandments, and thou gavest us over to plunder, captivity, and death; thou madest us a byword of reproach in all the nations among which we have been dispersed.
5And now thy many judgments are true in exacting penalty from me for my sins and those of my fathers, because we did not keep thy commandments. For we did not walk in truth before thee.
6And now deal with me according to thy pleasure; command my spirit to be taken up, that I may depart and become dust. For it is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and great is the sorrow within me. Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode; do not turn thy face away from me.”
7Sarah Falsely Accused On the same day, at Ecbat′ana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Rag′uel, was reproached by her father’s maids,
8because she had been given to seven husbands, and the evil demon Asmode′us had slain each of them before he had been with her as his wife. So the maids said to her, “Do you not know that you strangle your husbands? You already have had seven and have had no benefit from any of them.
9Why do you beat us? If they are dead, go with them! May we never see a son or daughter of yours!”
10Sarah’s Prayer for Death When she heard these things she was deeply grieved, even to the thought of hanging herself. But she said, “I am the only child of my father; if I do this, it will be a disgrace to him, and I shall bring his old age down in sorrow to the grave.”
11So she prayed by her window and said, “Blessed art thou, O Lord my God, and blessed is thy holy and honored name for ever. May all thy works praise thee for ever.
12And now, O Lord, I have turned my eyes and my face toward thee.
13Command that I be released from the earth and that I hear reproach no more.
14Thou knowest, O Lord, that I am innocent of any sin with man,
15and that I did not stain my name or the name of my father in the land of my captivity. I am my father’s only child, and he has no child to be his heir, no near kinsman or kinsman’s son for whom I should keep myself as wife. Already seven husbands of mine are dead. Why should I live? But if it be not pleasing to thee to take my life, command that respect be shown to me and pity be taken upon me, and that I hear reproach no more.”
16An Answer to Prayer The prayer of both was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God.
17And Raph′ael was sent to heal the two of them: to scale away the white films of Tobit’s eyes; to give Sarah the daughter of Rag′uel in marriage to Tobi′as the son of Tobit, and to bind Asmode′us the evil demon, because Tobi′as was entitled to possess her. At that very moment Tobit returned and entered his house and Sarah the daughter of Rag′uel came down from her upper room.
What this passage means
The chapter sets a structural parallelism: Tobit, just blinded and mocked, prays in anguish from Nineveh (3:1–6), while Sarah, daughter of Raguel in Ecbatana, prays at hers (3:7–15). Both prayers open with confession of God's righteousness and turn to a plea for release from distress. Tobit confesses the sins of his fathers and his own; Sarah declares her innocence but bears the shame of seven dead husbands. The literary device pairs two strangers on opposite ends of the exile so that a single act of God addresses both.
God's response is stated briefly but decisively in 3:16: 'The prayer of both was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God.' Verse 17 then names the specific deliverances — Tobit's eyes are to be scaled, Sarah is to be given in marriage to Tobias son of Tobit, and Asmodeus is to be bound. The chapter binds theology (God hears) to narrative mechanism (Raphael's mission) so the reader sees the connection before the travel story of chapters 4–11 begins.
A subordinate theme is the legitimacy of lament that ends in a request for death. Neither prayer is rebuked; both are heard. Yet the answer is not the death requested but life-restoring intervention. The chapter frames suffering prayer not as wrong speech but as the very context in which God's saving action becomes visible.
Context
The provided curated note states only that Tobit was backfilled outside designated P0/P1 ranges, so no further thematic framing is supplied. The chapter stands at the hinge between Tobit's lament over his blindness (chapter 2) and the commissioning of the journey by Raphael (chapters 4–6). Sarah's storyline likewise launches the Ecbatana episodes that culminate in the wedding of chapters 7–8.
Because no cross_references list and no original_words list were provided for this chapter, this reference page makes no claims about Hebrew or Aramaic vocabulary and cites no parallel passages. Statements are confined to what the chapter text itself contains.
Common questions
Why do Tobit and Sarah both pray for death in the same chapter?
The chapter uses the parallel to set up a single divine response. By placing two unrelated sufferers in different cities on the same day and giving each a similar lament, the author concentrates attention on the moment in verse 16 when God hears them both at once, and verse 17 when Raphael is sent for both. The repetition makes the connection unmistakable before the journey of chapters 4–11 unfolds.
Does the chapter endorse suicide for the afflicted?
Neither prayer is condemned, but neither request is granted as asked. Both are heard, and the answer is restorative: Tobit's eyes will be healed and Sarah will be given in marriage. The chapter treats lament that includes a plea for death as speech that God receives, yet redirects toward life.
Who is Raphael and what is he sent to do?
Verse 16 says the prayers were heard in the presence of the glory of the great God, and verse 17 states that Raphael was sent. The chapter lists three specific tasks: to scale away the white films from Tobit's eyes, to give Sarah in marriage to Tobias son of Tobit, and to bind the evil demon Asmodeus, because Tobias had the right to possess her.