On the journey to Rages, Tobias catches a great fish in the Tigris River when it attacks him. Raphael instructs him to save the heart, liver, and gall, explaining their medicinal and spiritual powers. Raphael then tells Tobias about Sarah, reveals that she is destined for him by right of kinship, and instructs him how to drive away the demon Asmodeus using the fish parts burned as incense.
This chapter contains the book's most distinctive material — the fish as both threat and remedy, the angelic instructions for exorcism, and the revelation of Sarah's story. The burning of fish liver and heart to repel a demon is unique in Scripture and became an important text for Christian discussions of sacramentals and exorcism. Raphael's assurance that the demon will flee at the smoke's scent influenced later Catholic theology of material instruments in spiritual warfare.
The fish episode is folkloristic in tone, and the 'prescription' of burning organs as demon-repellent sits uneasily with later rationalist commentary. Jerome renders it straightforwardly. The command to marry Sarah is presented as a legal obligation (kinship right) rather than romantic choice — a significant cultural difference from modern assumptions.
The fish in the Tigris echoes Jonah's sea creature — both are threats that become instruments of God's plan. The exorcism by fumigation anticipates sacramental theology (material objects as vehicles of spiritual power). The kinship marriage obligation reflects Numbers 36:6-9 and the book of Ruth.
Profectus est autem Tobias, et canis secutus est eum, et mansit prima mansione iuxta fluvium Tigris.
So Tobias set out, and the dog followed him, and they stopped for the first night's rest beside the river Tigris.
Et exiit ut lavaret pedes suos, et ecce piscis inmensus exiit ad devorandum eum.
He went out to wash his feet, and suddenly an enormous fish came up to devour him.
The Vulgate emphasizes the fish's threatening size. The Tigris was known for large fish species; the narrative dramatizes a real danger.
Quo expavescens Tobias clamavit voce magna dicens: Domine, invadit me!
Terrified, Tobias cried out with a loud voice: 'Lord, it is attacking me!'
Et dixit ei angelus: Adprehende branchiam eius et trahe eum ad te. Quod cum fecisset, attraxit eum in siccum et palpitare coepit ante pedes eius.
And the angel said to him: 'Seize it by the gills and pull it toward you!' When he had done so, he dragged it onto dry ground, and it began to thrash at his feet.
Tunc dixit ei angelus: Exentera hunc piscem et cor eius et fel et iecur repone tibi; sunt enim haec necessaria ad medicamenta utiliter.
Then the angel said to him: 'Gut this fish and set aside its heart, gall, and liver; they are useful and necessary for medicines.'
Three organs, two purposes: the heart and liver will drive away the demon (ch. 8), and the gall will cure Tobit's blindness (ch. 11). The material instruments of spiritual and physical healing.
Quod cum fecisset, assavit carnes eius, et secum tulerunt in via; cetera salierunt quae sufficerent eis quousque pervenirent in Rages civitatem Medorum.
When he had done this, he roasted its flesh, and they took it with them on the road. The rest they salted, enough to last them until they reached Rages, the city of the Medes.
Tunc interrogavit Tobias angelum et dixit ei: Obsecro te, Azaria frater, dicas mihi quod remedium habebunt ista quae de pisce servare iussisti?
Then Tobias asked the angel: 'I beg you, brother Azarias, tell me — what remedy will these things have that you ordered me to save from the fish?'
Et respondens angelus dixit ei: Cordis eius particulam si super carbones ponas, fumus eius extricat omne genus daemoniorum sive a viro sive a muliere, ita ut ultra non accedat ad eos.
The angel answered him: 'If you place a piece of its heart on burning coals, the smoke drives out every kind of demon, whether from a man or a woman, so that it never comes near them again.'
The mechanism is material (smoke) but the power is divine — Raphael is instructing the use of a physical instrument under angelic authority. This text influenced the theology of incense, blessed objects, and sacramentals.
Et fel valet ad ungendos oculos in quibus fuerit albugo, et sanabuntur.
And the gall is good for anointing eyes that have a white film on them, and they will be healed.'
A medical term for the cataracts or leucoma that has blinded Tobit. The gall remedy was known in ancient medicine — Pliny the Elder mentions fish bile for eye ailments.
Et dixit ei Tobias: Ubi vis ut maneamus?
Tobias said to him: 'Where do you want us to stay?'
Responditque angelus et dixit: Est hic Raguel nomine, vir propinquus de tribu tua, et hic habet filiam nomine Sarram; sed neque masculum neque feminam ullam habet aliam praeter eam.
The angel answered: 'There is a man here named Raguel, a relative of your tribe, and he has a daughter named Sarah. He has no other child, neither male nor female, except her.
Tibi debetur omnis substantia eius, et oportet eam te accipere coniugem.
All his property is owed to you, and you must take her as your wife.
A legal term — the inheritance and the marriage are matters of right, not option. This reflects ancient Near Eastern levirate and inheritance customs.
Pete ergo eam a patre eius, et dabit tibi eam in uxorem.
Ask her father for her, therefore, and he will give her to you as wife.'
Tunc respondit Tobias et dixit: Audio quia tradita est septem viris et mortui sunt; sed et hoc audivi, quia daemonium occidit eos.
Then Tobias answered: 'I hear that she has been given to seven men and they all died. And I have heard this too — that a demon killed them.
Timeo ergo ne forte et mihi haec eveniant, et cum sim unicus parentibus meis, deponam senectutem illorum cum tristitia ad inferos.
So I am afraid that the same may happen to me, and since I am my parents' only child, I would send their old age down to the grave in sorrow.'
Literally 'to the underworld' — the Latin 'inferi' translates the Hebrew Sheol, the realm of the dead.
Tunc angelus Raphael dixit ei: Audi me, et ostendam tibi qui sunt quibus praevalere potest daemonium.
Then the angel Raphael said to him: 'Listen to me, and I will show you who they are over whom the demon can prevail.
Hi namque qui coniugium ita suscipiunt ut Deum a se et a sua mente excludant et suae libidini ita vacent sicut equus et mulus quibus non est intellectus, habet potestatem daemonium super eos.
Those who enter marriage in such a way as to shut God out of themselves and their minds, and give themselves over to their lust like horses and mules that have no understanding — over these the demon has power.
A quotation from Psalm 32:9 — animals without understanding. The comparison links thoughtless lust with sub-rational behavior.
Libido here is not sexual desire per se but disordered desire that excludes God — the spiritual failure that gives the demon his opening.
Tu autem cum acceperis eam, ingressus cubiculum, per tres dies continens esto ab ea, et nihil aliud nisi orationibus vacabis cum ea.
But when you have taken her, after entering the bedchamber, be continent with her for three days, and occupy yourself with nothing but prayer together with her.
Sexual restraint as spiritual discipline — the antithesis of the lust described in v. 17. The demon is repelled not by the fish smoke alone but by the couple's prayerful disposition.
Ipsa autem nocte, incenso iecore piscis, fugabitur daemonium.
On that very night, when the liver of the fish is burned, the demon will be put to flight.
Secunda vero nocte in copulatione sanctorum patriarcharum admitteris.
On the second night you will be admitted into the union of the holy patriarchs.
Marriage is placed in continuity with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — it is not merely a contract but an entry into the covenant lineage.
Tertia autem nocte benedictionem consequéris ut filii ex vobis procreentur incólumes.
On the third night you will receive a blessing, so that healthy children may be born from you.
The blessing is specifically procreative — echoing Genesis 1:28 ('be fruitful and multiply'). Marriage, purified by prayer and continence, becomes the vehicle of the creation blessing.
Transacta autem tertia nocte, accipies virginem cum timore Domini, amore filiorum magis quam libidine ductus, ut in semine Abrahae benedictionem in filiis consequaris.
When the third night is past, take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, led more by love of children than by lust, so that in the seed of Abraham you may obtain a blessing in your children.'
This phrase shaped centuries of Catholic moral theology on the hierarchy of the 'ends of marriage' — procreation as primary, mutual satisfaction as secondary.
The Abrahamic promise (Gen 12:2-3, 22:17-18) is invoked as the ultimate context of marriage — participation in the covenant lineage.