The Book of Tobit (in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles; deuterocanonical for Protestants) records the story of the blind Israelite exile Tobit at Nineveh, his son Tobias, the unfortunate young woman Sarah at Ecbatana (in modern Iran), and the Archangel Raphael, who travels with Tobias under the human name 'Azariah.'
Raphael instructs Tobias to take a great fish from the Tigris and to extract its heart, liver, and gall. With the heart and liver, burned at the wedding chamber, Sarah is freed from the demon Asmodeus that had killed her seven previous bridegrooms. With the gall applied to Tobit's eyes, Tobit's blindness is cured. Tobias returns home with Sarah as his wife and great wealth, having travelled in safety. Only at the end does Raphael reveal himself: 'I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand before the glory of the Lord.' He commands them to write the things that have happened and ascends. The episode is the foundational scriptural text for the cult of Archangel Raphael (Hebrew: 'God heals') and the iconography of guardian angels.