Raguel summoned his daughter Sarah: The men, Raguel, Tobias, and Raphael, have been the only ones partaking of the meal. Here Raguel summons Sarah, and in verse 13 will call Edna in. Good News Translation “Raguel called his daughter” might indicate that she was already in the room; Contemporary English Version is better with “Raguel sent for his daughter.”

Gave her to Tobias, saying: “With his blessing” (Good News Translation) does not represent a Greek word for “blessing,” but describes the content of the following saying, Take her to be your wife …. We may also say “and gave her to Tobias, blessing them with the words….”

Law and decree is combined by Good News Translation into “teaching,” but again, there is no particular passage in mind. Book of Moses is used in the broader sense of “sacred tradition” (see also 1.8).

Take her to be your wife … Take her and bring her safely to your father: The two occurrences of take in this verse translate two different verbs, the first describing the act of taking, assuming responsibility for, the second meaning taking possession—having and keeping. Good News Translation focuses on Tobias taking Sarah to Tobit’s “house” rather than the literal to your father. New Revised Standard Version bring her safely to your father has the point of view wrong; rather than bring, we need “take,” but this would make a third occurrence of the word, with a third sense. Good News Translation sees us sensibly through this.

May the God of heaven prosper your journey with his peace: Prosper your journey is the same verb as above (verse 11) in the blessing on Tobias. The verb used here can be interpreted to refer to a literal journey, as New Revised Standard Version apparently takes it. More likely, however, the image of the journey is metaphorical here, so that the meaning is really “prosper you with his peace.” This means “make you live happily by granting you peace/prosperity/family/health/all good things [shalom in Hebrew].” Good News Translation expresses this as “May the God of heaven give you a happy life together,” which is a good model.

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.