Tobit 11:1
Cumque reverterentur, pervenerunt ad Charan, quae est in medio itinere contra Nineven, undecimo die.
As they were returning, they came to Haran, which is at the midpoint of the journey toward Nineveh, on the eleventh day.
Translator's Introduction
What This Chapter Is About
Tobias and Raphael hurry ahead of the caravan with the fish gall. Anna spots her son from afar and runs to meet him. Tobias applies the fish gall to his father's eyes, peels away the white film, and Tobit's sight is restored. Tobit blesses God, meets his new daughter-in-law Sarah, and a seven-day celebration follows.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The healing of Tobit's blindness is the climax toward which the entire narrative has been building. The cure is both medical (fish gall was a known remedy) and miraculous (directed by an angel). The reunion scene — Anna running, Tobit stumbling out, the dog running ahead — is one of the most human and emotionally vivid passages in all deuterocanonical literature. Tobit's first act upon seeing is blessing God, not marveling at the world.
Translation Friction
The physical details of the cure — applying gall, peeling away a membrane 'like the skin of an egg' — are startlingly clinical for a spiritual narrative. Jerome renders them without squeamishness. The dog's reappearance (last mentioned in 6:1) is a charming narrative callback that Jerome preserves.
Connections
Tobit's blindness healed by anointing anticipates Jesus healing the blind man with mud (John 9:6-7). The running mother echoes the father running to the prodigal son (Luke 15:20). Tobit's immediate doxology mirrors the healed lepers in Luke 17:15. The seven-day celebration connects to wedding feasts throughout the Hebrew Bible.
Tobit 11:2
Dixitque angelus: Tobia frater, scis quemadmodum reliquisti patrem tuum.
The angel said: 'Brother Tobias, you know the condition in which you left your father.
Tobit 11:3
Si placet itaque tibi, praecedamus, et lento gradu sequantur iter nostrum familiae simul cum coniuge tua et cum animalibus.
If it pleases you, let us go ahead, and let the household follow at a slower pace along our route, together with your wife and the animals.'
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- Raphael's suggestion to hurry ahead shows both practical wisdom and urgency — the cure should not wait for the caravan's pace.
Tobit 11:4
Cumque hoc placuisset ut irent, dixit Raphael ad Tobiam: Tolle tecum ex felle piscis; erit enim necessarium. Tulit itaque Tobias ex felle illo et profecti sunt.
When this was agreed and they prepared to go, Raphael said to Tobias: 'Take some of the fish gall with you, for it will be needed.' So Tobias took some of that gall and they set out.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
fel piscis
"fish gall"
The second of the two remedies from the fish of chapter 6 — the heart/liver drove away the demon, now the gall will cure blindness. One fish, two healings.
Tobit 11:5
Anna autem sedebat secus viam cotidie in supercilio montis, unde respicere poterat de longinquo.
Now Anna sat every day by the road on the crest of a hill, from where she could see far into the distance.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- The image of Anna on the hilltop, day after day, watching — this is one of the great portraits of maternal love in Scripture. Her faithfulness in watching matches her son's faithfulness in returning.
Tobit 11:6
Et dum ex eodem loco specularetur adventum eius, vidit a longe et ilico agnovit venientem filium suum, currensque nuntiavit viro suo dicens: Ecce venit filius tuus.
While she was watching from that same place for his coming, she saw him from far off and immediately recognized her son. Running, she told her husband: 'Look — your son is coming!'
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- Anna recognizes Tobias at a great distance — a mother's eye is sharper than any other. Her run to announce the news reverses the grief of her earlier scene (ch. 10).
Tobit 11:7
Dixitque Raphael ad Tobiam: Ut autem introieris domum tuam, statim adora Dominum Deum tuum et gratias agens ei accede ad patrem tuum et osculare eum.
Raphael said to Tobias: 'As soon as you enter your house, worship the Lord your God at once, and giving thanks to him, approach your father and kiss him.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- Raphael's instruction puts God first — before the reunion embrace, before the cure, worship. The order matters: gratitude precedes action.
Tobit 11:8
Statimque lini super oculos eius ex felle isto piscis quod portas tecum; scias enim quoniam mox aperientur oculi eius, et videbit pater tuus lumen caeli et in aspectu tuo gaudebit.
Then immediately smear on his eyes some of this fish gall that you carry with you. For know this: his eyes will soon be opened, and your father will see the light of heaven and will rejoice at the sight of you.'
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
lumen caeli
"the light of heaven"
Full circle from 5:12 where Tobit despaired of ever seeing it again. The light of heaven is both the sun and God's favor.
Translator Notes
- 'Lumen caeli' — the light of heaven — echoes Tobit's lament in 5:12. What he mourned losing, he will now regain. The physical cure and the spiritual restoration are one.
Tobit 11:9
Tunc praecucurrit canis qui simul fuerat in via, et quasi nuntius adveniens blandimento suae caudae gaudebat.
Then the dog that had been with them on the journey ran ahead, and arriving like a messenger, showed its joy by wagging its tail.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
quasi nuntius
"like a messenger"
The dog as herald of the good news — a whimsical touch in a book that features an actual angelic messenger.
Translator Notes
- One of the most beloved details in all biblical literature — the dog arrives first, wagging its tail. This small, joyful detail is purely Tobit's own; it serves no theological purpose except to make the homecoming real and warm.
Tobit 11:10
Et consurgens caecus pater eius coepit offendens pedibus currere, et data manu puero, occurrit obviam filio suo.
The blind father rose and began to run, stumbling as he went. Giving his hand to a servant boy, he hurried out to meet his son.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- The blind man running — stumbling, needing help, but running nonetheless. This is one of the most moving images in the book. Tobit cannot see but he will not wait.
Tobit 11:11
Et suscipiens osculatus est eum cum uxore sua, et coeperunt ambo flere prae gaudio.
Receiving him, he kissed him along with his wife, and they both began to weep for joy.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
flere prae gaudio
"weep for joy"
The tears that have flowed throughout the book are finally transformed — the same eyes that wept in grief now weep in gladness.
Tobit 11:12
Cumque adorassent Deum et gratias egissent, consederunt.
When they had worshipped God and given thanks, they sat down.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- Again, worship precedes everything else — even before the healing, they give thanks. The narrative insists on gratitude as the first response to reunion.
Tobit 11:13
Tunc sumens Tobias de felle piscis, linivit oculos patris sui.
Then Tobias took some of the fish gall and applied it to his father's eyes.
Tobit 11:14
Et sustinuit quasi dimidiam fere horam, et coepit albugo ex oculis eius quasi membrana ovi egredi.
He waited about half an hour, and the white film began to come out of his eyes like the membrane of an egg.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
albugo... quasi membrana ovi
"the white film... like the membrane of an egg"
A vivid medical simile — the cataract or leucoma peels away in a thin, translucent sheet. This specificity suggests an eyewitness tradition behind the narrative.
Translator Notes
- The clinical detail — half an hour of waiting, then a membrane peeling away like egg skin — is remarkable. Jerome does not spiritualize the cure; it is physical, observable, and somewhat unpleasant. The realism makes the miracle credible.
Tobit 11:15
Quam adprehendens Tobias traxit ab oculis eius, statimque visum recepit.
Tobias took hold of it and pulled it from his eyes, and immediately his father received his sight.
Tobit 11:16
Et glorificabant Deum, ipse videlicet et uxor eius et omnes qui sciebant eum.
And they glorified God — he himself and his wife and all who knew him.
Tobit 11:17
Dicebatque Tobias: Benedico te, Domine Deus Israhel, quia tu castigasti me et tu sanasti me, et ecce ego video Tobiam filium meum.
Tobit said: 'I bless you, Lord God of Israel, because you chastised me and you healed me, and now I see my son Tobias.'
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
castigasti me et sanasti me
"you chastised me and you healed me"
Chastisement and healing as two acts of the same love — this is the theological resolution of the book's central question about righteous suffering.
Translator Notes
- Tobit's doxology is theologically precise: God both chastised and healed. The suffering was not meaningless — it was discipline, and the healing is its resolution. The two actions belong to the same God.
Tobit 11:18
Ingressa est etiam post septem dies Sarra uxor filii eius et omnis familia incólumis et pecora et cameli et pecunia multa uxoris et illa pecunia quam receperat a Gabelo.
Seven days later Sarah, his son's wife, arrived with all the household safe and sound, along with the livestock, camels, abundant money from the wife's portion, and the money recovered from Gabael.
Tobit 11:19
Et narravit Tobias patri suo omnia beneficia Dei quae fecisset circa eum per hominem qui eum duxerat.
Tobias told his father all the blessings God had done for him through the man who had guided him.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- Tobias still describes Raphael as 'the man who guided me' — the angelic revelation is saved for chapter 12.
Tobit 11:20
Veneruntque Achior et Nabath consobrini Tobiae gaudentes ad Tobiam et congratulantes ei de omnibus bonis quae circa illum ostenderat Deus.
Ahiqar and Nabath, Tobit's kinsmen, came rejoicing to Tobit and congratulated him on all the good things God had shown him.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- Ahiqar is a figure from ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature — his appearance in Tobit connects this narrative to the broader Mesopotamian literary world.
Tobit 11:21
Et per septem dies epulantes omnes cum gaudio magno gavisi sunt.
And for seven days they all feasted, celebrating with great joy.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- The seven-day feast mirrors the wedding feast structure found throughout Scripture (Gen 29:27, Judg 14:12). Seven days of celebration answer seven deaths — Sarah's seven dead husbands are countered by seven days of life and joy.