When the feasting was over, Tobit called his son Tobias and said, ‘My son, you ought to think about paying the amount due to your fellow traveller; give him more than the figure agreed on.’ So Tobias called his companion and said, ‘Take half of what you brought back, in payment for all you have done, and go in peace.’

Then Raphael took them both aside and said, ‘Bless God, utter his praise before all the living for all the favours he has given you. Bless and extol his name. Proclaim before all men the deeds of God as they deserve, and never tire of giving him thanks. It is right to keep the secret of a king, yet right to reveal and publish the works of God. Thank him worthily. Do what is good, and no evil can befall you.

‘Prayer with fasting and alms with right conduct are better than riches with iniquity. Better to practise almsgiving than to hoard up gold. Almsgiving saves from death and purges every kind of sin. Those who give alms have their fill of days; those who commit sin and do evil, bring harm on themselves.

‘I am going to tell you the whole truth, hiding nothing from you. I have already told you that it is right to keep the secret of a king, yet right too to reveal in worthy fashion the works of God. So you must know that when you and Sarah were at prayer, it was I who offered your supplications before the glory of the Lord and who read them; so too when you were burying the dead. When you did not hesitate to get up and leave the table to go and bury a dead man, I was sent to test your faith, and at the same time God sent me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of the Lord.

‘Now bless the Lord on earth and give thanks to God. I am about to return to him above who sent me.’

Blessed be God, who lives for ever.

By turns he punishes and pardons;
  he sends men down to the depths of the underworld
and draws them up from supreme Destruction;
  no one can escape his hand.

Blessed be God, who lives for ever.

If you return to him
  with all your heart and all your soul,
  behaving honestly towards him,
then he will return to you
  and hide his face from you no longer.

Blessed be God, who lives for ever.

Consider how well he has treated you;
  loudly give him thanks.
Bless the Lord of justice
  and extol the King of the ages.

Blessed be God, who lives for ever.

I for my part sing his praise
  in the country of my exile;
I make his power and greatness known
  to a nation that has sinned.

Blessed be God, who lives for ever.

Sinners, return to him;
  let your conduct be upright before him;
perhaps he will be gracious to you
  and take pity on you.

Blessed be God, who lives for ever.

Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Alleluia!