8 When I was young, my father died and left me as an orphan. So it was my grandmother Deborah who told me to be careful and obey what the Law of Moses commanded about taking care of orphans and widows and of those who had come from other countries to become part of Israel. That's why every third year, I would set aside a third tenth of my harvest and use part of it to hold a festival for them. Then I would give them the rest.
9 When I was old enough, I married a woman from my own tribe, and we had a son. I named him Tobias.
10 Later, after we were led away to Assyria as prisoners, we went to live in the city of Nineveh. All my brothers and other relatives ate the same food as everyone else in Assyria.
11 But I decided to eat only what was allowed by the Law of Moses.
12 Obeying God was the most important thing in my life.
13 That's why God Most High made King Shalmaneser so pleased with me. Shalmaneser even put me in charge of buying all the supplies for his palace,
14 and I held that position for the rest of his life. I used to travel to Media on business trips, and on one of those trips, I put 120,000 of my own silver coins in bags, then left them for safekeeping with Gabael the brother of Gabri.