Drafted by Grok 4.7 on 8 October 2026. First draft. Not independently reviewed. Aramaic and Hebrew where a Qumran copy can be read (4Q196–4Q200), and otherwise the longer Greek of Codex Sinaiticus. The shorter Greek in Swete is not the base. Gaps in Sinaiticus are not filled from a later edition.
1The young man went out, and the angel with him, and the dog went out with him and traveled with them. The two of them walked, and night overtook them, and they camped by the Tigris river.
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The dog is in Sinaiticus. No Qumran line for the dog was readable in the fragments checked for this draft, so the dog is printed from the Greek. The shorter Greek tells this journey more briefly. It is not the base.
2The young man went down to wash his feet in the Tigris, and a great fish leaped out of the water and tried to swallow the boy’s foot. He cried out in fear.
3The angel said to the boy, “Take hold of the fish and get a grip on it.” The boy seized the fish and hauled it up onto the land.
4The angel said to him, “Cut the fish open. Take out the gall, the heart, and the liver, and put them aside for yourself. Throw the entrails away. The gall, the heart, and the liver are useful as medicine.”
5He cut the fish open, roasted some of it, and ate. He salted what he left over.
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The first words of this verse are damaged in Sinaiticus. The actions that are clear are printed: cutting, roasting, eating, and salting a remainder. A damaged verb at the start is not guessed.
6The two of them traveled on together until they were nearing Media.
7Then the boy asked the angel, “Azariah, brother, what is the medicine in the fish’s heart, its liver, and its gall?”
8He said to him, “If you smoke the fish’s heart and liver in front of a man or a woman whom a demon or an evil spirit has attacked, every attack will flee and will never remain with that person.
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Sinaiticus stumbles on the opening (“the heart, the heart and the liver”) and on the verb “smoke.” The instruction that is clear is printed once.
9And the gall: if you smear it on the eyes of a person who has white films on them, and blow on the white films, the eyes heal.”
10When he had entered Media and was already approaching Ecbatana,
11Raphael said to the boy, “Tobias, brother.” He said, “Here I am.” Raphael said, “Tonight we have to stay with Raguel. The man is your relative, and he has a daughter named Sarah.
12He has no son and no daughter except Sarah alone. You are her nearest kin, nearer than anyone, to inherit her, and what belongs to her father is rightfully yours to inherit. The girl is sensible, brave, and very beautiful, and her father is a good man.”
13He said, “It is right for you to take her. Listen to me, brother. I will speak to the father about the girl tonight, so that we can take her as your bride. When we come back from Raguel we will hold the wedding. I know Raguel cannot keep her from you or pledge her to another man. He would owe a death, under the ruling in the book of Moses, because he knows that you, above any other man, have the inheritance-right to take his daughter. So listen to me, brother. Let us speak about the girl tonight and promise her to you. When we come back from Rages we will take her and bring her with us to your house.”
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The speech repeats itself, and it says both “when we come back from Raguel” and “when we come back from Rages.” Both are printed. The death penalty is what the Greek says. No other legal text is pasted in to explain it.
14Tobias answered Raphael, “Azariah, brother, I have heard that she has already been given to seven husbands, and they died in the bridal chamber, the night they went in to her. I have heard people say that a demon kills them.
15And now I am afraid. It is not that she does anything wrong. Whoever wants to come near her, the demon kills him. I am my father’s only child. I don’t want to die and take my father’s life and my mother’s down into their grave in pain over me. They have no other son to bury them.”
16Raphael said to him, “Don’t you remember your father’s commands, that he ordered you to take a wife from your father’s house? Now listen to me, brother. Don’t make a case of this demon. Take her. I know that tonight a wife will be given to you.
17When you go into the bridal chamber, take some of the fish’s liver and the heart, and put them on the embers of the incense. The smell will go out, the demon will smell it and flee, and it will never appear around her again.
18When you are about to be with her, both of you get up first and pray. Ask the Lord of heaven for mercy and safety for you. Don’t be afraid. She was set aside for you before the age, and you are the one who will save her. She will go with you, and I think you will have children by her. They will be like brothers to you. Don’t make a case of it.”
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“Like brothers” is the Greek. It is a strange thing to say about one’s own children. The words are printed as they stand. No smoother family term is substituted.
19When Tobias heard Raphael’s words, and that she was his kinswoman from the line of his father’s house, he loved her deeply, and his heart clung to her.