经文研读
Tobit 13:1-6 — Tobit's Song of Mercy and Gathering
Tobit praises the eternal God who both afflicts and shows mercy, calls scattered Israel to acknowledge God among the nations, and urges sinners to repent and trust that God will gather and accept them.
经文
- 1.托比特感谢上帝 托比特写了一首喜乐的祷告，说：永生神是应当称颂的，他的国也永远存在。Tobit’s Thanksgiving to God Then Tobit wrote a prayer of rejoicing, and said: “Blessed is God who lives for ever, and blessed is his kingdom.
- 2.因为他使人受苦，也施予怜悯，他使人下到阴间，又使人复活，没有人能脱离他的手。For he afflicts, and he shows mercy; he leads down to Hades, and brings up again, and there is no one who can escape his hand.
- 3.在列国中认耶和华， 以色列的众子啊，因为他将我们散在列国中。Acknowledge him before the nations, O sons of Israel; for he has scattered us among them.
- 4.在那里宣扬他的伟大，在一切有生之人面前尊崇他，因为他是我们的主我们的神，他是我们的父，直到永远。Make his greatness known there, and exalt him in the presence of all the living; because he is our Lord and God, he is our Father for ever.
- 5.他必因我们的不法惩治我们，后必施怜悯，又聚集我们从分散我们到各国的人中。He will afflict us for our iniquities; and again he will show mercy, and will gather us from all the nations among whom you have been scattered.
- 6.如果你以全部的心和灵转向他，在他面前行事为真，他就会转向你，不会隐藏他的面容在你面前。但是看他要对你做什么，尽声向他感谢。赞美公义的主，尊高永在的王。我在被掳之地称谢他，并向罪恶之国显明他的能力和威严。你们这些罪人转回去，在他面前行事为善，谁知道他是否会悦纳你们并怜悯你们。If you turn to him with all your heart and with all your soul, to do what is true before him, then he will turn to you and will not hide his face from you. But see what he will do with you; give thanks to him with your full voice. Praise the Lord of righteousness, and exalt the King of the ages. I give him thanks in the land of my captivity, and I show his power and majesty to a nation of sinners. Turn back, you sinners, and do right before him; who knows if he will accept you and have mercy on you?
这段经文的意思
Tobit 13:1-6 opens with a doxology to the living God whose kingdom endures forever. The opening words, "Blessed is God who lives for ever, and blessed is his kingdom," establish the theological center of the passage: God's life and reign are not bound by death, exile, or political collapse. Tobit frames every later statement against this eternal horizon.
The central confession comes in verse 2: "For he afflicts, and he shows mercy; he leads down to Hades, and brings up again, and there is no one who can escape his hand." Tobit holds two divine actions together — punishment and compassion, descent and restoration — and insists that no one is beyond God's reach. Affliction is not denied; it is paired with mercy as part of one sovereign pattern.
Verses 3-6 turn from confession to address. Israel is called to "acknowledge him before the nations" precisely because Israel has been "scattered among them" (v. 3). The cause of scattering is named in verse 5 — "our iniquities" — but so is the reversal: God "will gather us from all the nations." Verse 6 makes the condition explicit: full-hearted turning to God meets full-faced turning from God, and the passage closes with an invitation to sinners — "Turn back... who knows if he will accept you and have mercy on you?" — that joins human responsibility and divine freedom without resolving their tension.
背景
Tobit 13 as a whole is presented as Tobit's written prayer of rejoicing after his restoration. Verses 1-6 form the first movement, focusing on God's character, Israel's scattering and gathering, and the call to repentance. Verses 7-9 then shift to the praise of the King of heaven and address Jerusalem directly; verses 10-18 expand into a vision of Jerusalem's renewal, the pilgrimage of the nations, and a closing doxology. The full chapter sets the personal thanksgiving of verses 1-6 inside a wider eschatological horizon of Israel's gathering and Jerusalem's future glory, as noted in the curated verse note.
Because the provided cross-references list is empty, this page deliberately limits itself to what the chapter text itself states: God's paired actions of affliction and mercy, the cause of exile given as Israel's iniquities, the promise of regathering, and the conditional call to turn. No external historical setting, dating, or intertextual links are introduced beyond what the text presents.
常见问题
Why does Tobit say God both afflicts and shows mercy?
Tobit holds affliction and mercy together as one divine pattern rather than as opposites. Verse 2 names both — "he afflicts, and he shows mercy" — and pairs descent to Hades with being brought up again. The point is that God's hand reaches both judgment and restoration, and no one escapes that hand; affliction is real but never the final word, because mercy is part of the same sovereign action.
What is the reason given for Israel's scattering?
The text gives a theological reason: "our iniquities." Verse 5 states, "He will afflict us for our iniquities; and again he will show mercy, and will gather us from all the nations." Scattering is framed as the consequence of sin, but the same verse immediately pairs it with God's promise to regather, so scattering and gathering belong to one arc rather than two unrelated events.
What is the condition for God turning back to Israel in verse 6?
The condition is wholehearted turning: "If you turn to him with all your heart and with all your soul, to do what is true before him, then he will turn to you and will not hide his face from you." Tobit pairs human turning with divine turning — the same movement that is demanded of Israel is promised from God — and then leaves the outcome partially open by asking, "who knows if he will accept you and have mercy on you?" The passage joins human responsibility and divine freedom without collapsing one into the other.