What you hate, do not do to anyone: This is “The Golden Rule” in its negative form; the positive form is found in Matt 7.12 and Luke 6.31. Though Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version are idiomatic renderings of this negative form, they are wordy. The Greek is crisp: “What you hate, do to no one.”

Do not drink wine to excess or let drunkenness go with you on your way: The keyword in both halves of this sentence in Greek is “drunkenness.” In New Revised Standard Version the first use of the word has been rendered as to excess; in Good News Translation the second use has been translated “drinking.” Neither is wrong, but it should be noted that in Greek the verse does turn around the two uses of the same noun. The Good News Translation reduction of the metaphor let drunkenness go with you on your way to plain language, “do not let drinking become a habit,” is acceptable (so also New English Bible).

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.