Bible Notes

The Prayer of Tobiah and Sarah

Here is a prayer that newly weds can pray on wedding night:

Blessed are you, O God of our fathers;
praised be your name forever and ever.
Let the heavens and all your creation
praise you forever.

You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve
to be his help and support;
and from these two the human race descended.
You said, `It is not good for the man to be alone;
let us make him a partner like himself.'

Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine
not because of lust,
but for a noble purpose.
Call down your mercy on me and on her,
and allow us to live together to a happy old age."

The passage is taken from Tobit 8:5-7. Tobias has just redeemed Sara, Raguel's daughter, by way of levirate marriage. The prayer is Jewish but it may as well be used by Christians.

The prayer can be divided into three parts. The opening blessing to God is characteristic of the berakah. "Baruk Adonay" is the normal beginning of a berakah -- "Blessed be the Lord." This is the "upward" motion of the prayer. Then the prayer moves to the remembrance of an action of God, in this case, the first marriage between Man and Woman, Adam and Eve. Tobias then professes the purity of his intention in marrying Sarah. He married her out of a "noble purpose," he proclaims. The Jerusalem Bible translates this phrase as "singleness of heart". The Septuagint has ep alhtheiaV, literally "on account of the true" which perhaps is the reason why the NAB reads "noble purpose". "Singleness of heart" may be the better translation since ep alhtheiaV is contrasted with the phrase for "lustful desire (dia porneian)." In any case, Tobias professes a pure motive for wedding Sarah and asks from God one thing: that he and Sarah grow old together.

"Grow to a happy old age" saith Tobias. How many do you think still want this for their marriage?