The translator should probably not attempt the rest of this chapter without a good night’s sleep!

A massive textual problem accounts for the large differences between New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation in the first part of this verse. The Greek text we follow is translated by Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible, and others. New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, and New American Bible follow another form of the text, one which is supported by the Old Latin and by some Greek manuscripts. The text behind Good News Translation is literally “And he said to his daughter Sarah, ‘Go to your father-in-law, since from now on they….’ ” Note that Good News Translation “with your husband” is not in the Greek. Also, “his parents’ [plural] house” takes a modest liberty; the text speaks only of the father-in-law. Mentioning the house is only an acceptable shift of focus. Good News Translation omits Go in peace, which should be kept. Another way to express this is “Have a safe journey.”

The alternate form of the text speaks of Raguel kissing Sarah before he speaks, and has a longer clause in place of “Go to your father-in-law.” This longer clause says nothing about “going”; it speaks of both the father-in-law and mother-in-law separately, and Sarah is told to honor them.

The kiss is a nice touch, and we might wish to keep it; but the simplest solution, solving more problems while raising fewer, is for translators to follow Good News Translation in rendering the text as it stands. Even Good News Translation‘s change from “father-in-law” to “parents-in-law” should be adopted. There are two reasons to support this. First, the expression that follows, they are as much your parents, clearly shows that the author intended to refer to both. The author’s use of “father-in-law” followed by the plural is not really a conflict; the household would have been identified as his. A second reason for accepting “parents-in-law” is that this word appears in the alternate, shorter Greek text. So Good News Translation provides a reliable model for the first part of this verse.

There is a further textual complication involving this part of the verse, which we will discuss below at verse 13.

Then Edna said to Tobias: A sharp problem in narrative writing shows up here, when Edna speaks to Tobias after Raguel appears to have already sent Tobias and Sarah on their way (verses 11-12a). Here is the sequence the author gives us:

Raguel sends the couple off (verse 11).
Raguel speaks to Tobias.
Raguel speaks to Sarah (verse 12).
Raguel sends the couple off.
Edna speaks to Tobias.
Edna kisses Tobias and Sarah and sends them off.
Tobias blesses Raguel and Edna (but see below on verse 13).

It is well to think of the author painting two panels here—three if you count Tobias’s farewell words. A lot of action is going on at the same time. The author, by having the couple sent off three times, has not solved the narrative challenge well, and there is only so much the translator can do to the text without rewriting the story. The word Then used by New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and New American Bible to introduce Edna’s words only makes the problem worse. In verse 13, “Finally…” (New Revised Standard Version) makes it even worse again. New Jerusalem Bible has a clever and helpful approach: “Edna in her turn said to Tobias….” It is the smallest of liberties, but is helpful indeed in making a potentially confusing situation clearer. Perhaps the confusion itself is intended to express Raguel and Edna’s loving hesitance to let the young couple go.

Dear brother means “kinsman” of course. Good News Translation omits this touch and links the word “dear” to “child.” See 5.10 for a comment on brother.

The Lord of heaven: The words of heaven do not appear in our Greek text, and do not belong here. They are in the other Greek text, translated by Revised Standard Version. The revisers appear to have left the phrase here inadvertently.

Bring you back: You is singular, referring to Tobias. It is not clear whether Edna means “bring you safely home” (Good News Translation), referring to Nineveh, or “bring you safely back here” (that is, to Ecbatana, so Contemporary English Version). If Ecbatana is intended, the Contemporary English Version rendering making may I live long enough to see children a logical result of the first clause, seems a reasonable translation: “Tobias, my son, I pray that the Lord will let you and Sarah return here before I die, so that I may see my grandchildren.” In the context it seems that the Contemporary English Version interpretation is the more likely one, and translators are urged to follow it.

In the sight of the Lord: This is expressed by Good News Translation as “The Lord is my witness,” and by Contemporary English Version as “with God as my witness”; or we may say, “I ask the Lord to witness that I am placing….”

Do nothing to grieve her all the days of your life: The phrase all the days of your life is poorly placed in New Revised Standard Version; it belongs after do nothing. Good News Translation expresses it better with “Never, at any time in your life, do anything that would break her heart.” Contemporary English Version is shorter with “Please don’t ever cause her any sorrow.”

Go in peace, my child: Go in peace becomes in Good News Translation “Have a safe journey.” In Greek it is simply “in peace.” It seems to convey, in its shortened form, a sense of choking back emotion. In Good News Translation the use of Tobias’s name rather than the word child lends an appropriate warmth to the scene; but translators should again use a form that is the most natural in this social context.

For the New Revised Standard Version footnote on wife, see the note at 8.21.

May we all prosper together all the days of our lives: Contemporary English Version has a helpful model, “I pray that God will always bless our family.” We may also translate “I pray that God will always cause all of us to prosper.” For prosper, see the notes on verse 11 and 7.12.

Saw them safely off: See the note on verse 11.

A model for the last part of this long verse could be:

• Edna in her turn said, “Tobias, my dear child, may the Lord take you safely home, and may you and Sarah come back some day with your children, while I am alive to see them. The Lord is my witness; I am placing my daughter in your care. Never, at any time in your life, do anything to cause her sorrow. Goodbye, son. I am your mother from now on, just as Sarah is your wife. I pray that we may all live happily as long as we live.” Edna then kissed them both, and saw them safely off on their way.

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.