I washed myself: See 2.5.

The courtyard was a small open area surrounded by the rooms of the house. A single door would open out into the street.

My face was uncovered: The Greek noun meaning face is used here, and New Revised Standard Version translates it literally. Most people do not sleep with their face covered (there is a danger of suffocation). Good News Translation surely has the proper picture: Tobit was sleeping with something over his body, but because he was warm enough he did not pull it up over his head.

Because of the heat: Some versions, which are translating another Greek text, may indicate that Tobit slept outside because he was defiled from touching the corpse. Our text does not say this. The ritual purification would have been accomplished by Tobit’s washing himself, as Good News Translation makes clear. The narrator may think of Tobit being in the courtyard simply because “it was a hot night.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Tobit. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.