King James Version · Under Assyria
Tobit 1
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is.
1The book of the words of , son of Tobiel, the son of Ananiel, the son of Aduel, the son of Gabael, of the of Asael, of the tribe of Nephthali; 2Who in the time of Enemessar king of the was led out of Thisbe, which is at of that city, which is called properly Nephthali in above Aser. 3I have walked all the days of my life in the ways of truth and justice, and I did many almsdeeds to my brethren, and my nation, who came with me to , into the land of the . 4And when I was in mine own country, in the land of Israel being but young, all the tribe of Nephthali fell from the house of , which was chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, that all the tribes should there, where of the habitation of was and built for all ages. 5Now all the tribes which together revolted, and the house of Nephthali, unto the heifer . 6But I alone went often to at the feasts, as it was ordained unto all the people of Israel by an , having the and tenths of increase, with that which was first shorn; and them gave I at the to the priests the children of . 7The first tenth part of all increase I gave to the sons of , who ministered at : another tenth part I sold away, and went, and spent it every year at : 8And the third I gave unto them to whom it was meet, as Debora ’s mother had commanded me, because I was left an orphan by . 9Furthermore, when I was come to the age of a man, I married of mine own kindred, and of her I begat . 10And when we were to , all my brethren and those that were of my kindred did eat of the bread of the . 11But I kept myself from eating; 12Because I remembered with all . 13And gave me and before Enemessar, so that I was his purveyor. 14And I went into , and left in with Gabael, the brother of Gabrias, at Rages a city of ten of silver. 15Now when Enemessar was , his son reigned in his stead; whose estate was troubled, that I could not go into . 16And in the time of Enemessar I gave many alms to my brethren, and gave my bread to the hungry, 17And my clothes to the : and if I saw any of my nation , or cast about the walls of , I . 18And if the king had slain any, when he was come, and fled from , I buried them privily; for in his he killed many; but the bodies were not found, when they were sought for of the king. 19And when one of the Ninevites went and complained of me to the king, that I buried them, and hid myself; understanding that I was sought for to be put to , I withdrew myself for fear. 20Then all my goods were forcibly taken away, neither was there any thing left me, beside my wife and my son . 21And there passed not five and fifty days, before two of his sons killed him, and they fled into the mountains of Ararath; and Sarchedonus his son reigned in his stead; who appointed over his ’s accounts, and over all his affairs, Achiacharus my brother Anael’s son. 22And Achiacharus intreating for me, I returned to . Now Achiacharus was cupbearer, and keeper of the signet, and steward, and overseer of the accounts: and Sarchedonus appointed him next unto him: and he was my brother’s son.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Assyria, 745 BC to 612 BC ›
Assyria at full stretch, deporting whole populations as policy. The northern kingdom is destroyed in 722 BC and Judah survives as a tribute-paying vassal.
- Assyria
- The first empire to run mass deportation as ordinary administration: move the leadership somewhere else, settle strangers in their place, and the province stops being a nation. It worked. Samaria fell in 722 BC and the northern tribes did not come back. Assyria also advertised its cruelty deliberately, carving flayings and impalements on palace walls where envoys would see them, because terror is cheaper than garrisons.
- Judah
- Survives by paying. Hezekiah rebels, Sennacherib takes forty-six Judean towns and besieges Jerusalem in 701 BC, and the city holds. The Assyrian account boasts of shutting Hezekiah up like a bird in a cage and pointedly does not claim to have taken the city, which is one of the more interesting silences in ancient records.
- Egypt
- The splintered reed of a staff that Assyria's field commander mocks Judah for leaning on. It promises help and cannot deliver, and Isaiah spends decades saying so. Assyria eventually invades and sacks Thebes.
- Further afield
- Greece is in its archaic period, founding colonies from Spain to the Black Sea. Rome is under kings. Assyria's own libraries are collecting the literature of Mesopotamia, which is how Gilgamesh survived to be read again in the nineteenth century.