7. I would present these things at the altar to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. I would give the first tenth of my grain, wine, olive oil, pomegranates, figs, and other fruit to the Levites who served in Jerusalem. For six out of seven years, I also brought the cash equivalent of the second tenth of these crops to Jerusalem where I would spend it every year.
8. I gave this to orphans and widows, and to Gentiles who had joined Israel. In the third year, when I brought and gave it to them, we would eat together according to the instruction recorded in Moses’ Law, as Deborah my grandmother had taught me (for my father had died and left me an orphan).
9. When I became an adult, I married a woman from our clan. Together we had a son, whom I named Tobias.
10. After I was taken captive to Assyria and came to Nineveh, all my relatives and fellow Jews there were eating Gentile food.
11. I, however, avoided eating the Gentiles’ food.
12. Because I kept God in view with all my heart,
13. the Most High gave me favor and good standing before Shalmaneser, and I would buy for him everything he needed.
14. I used to go to Media on business for him until he died. While in the land of Media, I entrusted 570 pounds of silver to Gabael brother of Gabri.
15. When Shalmaneser died, Sennacherib his son ruled in his place. The roads to Media became dangerous, and I couldn’t travel there any longer.
16. During the time of Shalmaneser, I gave away a lot of money to my relatives, my fellow Jews.
17. I gave a portion of my food to the hungry and clothes to the naked. Whenever I saw that the corpse of anyone from my nation had been flung outside the wall of Nineveh, I buried it.
18. I also buried anyone whom Sennacherib murdered after fleeing home from Judea, at the time when the king of heaven had punished him for all his insulting actions. In his rage Sennacherib killed many Israelites. However, I would take their bodies and bury them secretly. Sennacherib looked for them, but he didn’t find them.
19. A native Ninevite went to the king and told him that I was the one burying the bodies. So I went into hiding. When I found out that I was being hunted down to be put to death, I fled from the city in fear.
20. All my possessions were seized, and everything of mine became royal property except for my wife Anna and my son Tobias.