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Tobias 6
And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him, and
he lodged the first night by the river of Tigris.
And he went out to wash his feet, and behold a monstrous
fish came up to devour him.
And Tobias being afraid of him, cried out with a loud
voice, saying: Sir, he cometh upon me.
And the angel said to him: Take him by the gill, and
draw him to thee. And when he had done so, he drew him
out upon the land, and he began to pant before his feet.
Then the angel said to him: Take out the entrails of
the fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his
liver for thee: for these are necessary for useful medicines.
And when he had done so, he roasted the flesh thereof,
and they took it with them in the way: the rest they
salted as much as might serve them, till they came to
Rages the city of the Medes.
Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech
thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these
things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the
fish?
And the angel, answering, said to him: If thou put a
little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof
driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or
from woman, so that they come no more to them.
And the gall is good for anointing the eyes, in which
there is a white speck, and they shall be cured.
And Tobias said to him: Where wilt thou that we lodge?
And the angel answering, said: Here is one whose name
is Raguel, a near kinsman of thy tribe, and he hath
a daughter named Sara, but he hath no son nor any other
daughter beside her.
All his substance is due to thee, and thou must take
her to wife.
Ask her therefore of her father, and he will give her
thee to wife.
Then Tobias answered, and said: I hear that she hath
been given to seven husbands, and they all died: moreover
I have heard, that a devil killed them.
Now I am afraid, lest the same thing should happen to
me also: and whereas I am the only child of my parents,
I should bring down their old age with sorrow to hell.
Then the angel Raphael said to him: Hear me, and I will
shew thee who they are, over whom the devil can prevail.
For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to
shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and
to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule,
which have not understanding, over them the devil hath
power.
But thou when thou shalt take her, go into the chamber,
and for three days keep thyself continent from her,
and give thyself to nothing else but to prayers with
her.
And on that night lay the liver of the fish on the fire,
and the devil shall be driven away.
But the second night thou shalt be admitted into the
society of the holy Patriarchs.
And the third night thou shalt obtain a blessing that
sound children may be born of you.
And when the third night is past, thou shalt take the
virgin with the fear of the Lord, moved rather for love
of children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham
thou mayst obtain a blessing in children.
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