The Book of Tobit (/ˈtoʊbɪt/), a work of Second Temple Jewish literature, is one of the deuterocanonical (or apocryphal) books of the Bible. It dates to the 3rd or early 2nd century BC. It emphasizes God’s testing of the faithful, his response to prayer, and his protection of the covenant people, the Israelites. The narrative follows two Israelite families: the blind Tobit in Nineveh and Sarah, abandoned in Ecbatana. Tobit’s son Tobias is sent to recover ten silver talents once deposited in Rhages in Media, and on his journey—guided by the angel Raphael—he meets Sarah. Sarah is afflicted by the demon Asmodeus, who slays her prospective husbands, but with Raphael’s help the demon is exorcised and she marries Tobias. They return together to Nineveh, where Tobit’s sight is miraculously restored.
Since the 20th century, scholarly consensus has held that Tobit was originally composed in a Semitic language. Five Aramaic and Hebrew fragments were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to the 1st or 2nd century BC. The book influenced the authors of the Testament of Job, the Testament of Solomon, and possibly (depending on dating) Sirach, Jubilees, and the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children. It was included in both the Jewish-originated Septuagint and the Old Latin Bible, which preserves textual traditions of Hebrew or Jewish vorlage. It is extant in major Christian codices such as Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Basiliano-Venetus. Multiple ancient recensions are preserved in Greek and Latin, along with translations into Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Syriac.
