From this point through 11.2 there is a discrepancy in verse numbers between New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. We follow the New Revised Standard Version numbering, but give the equivalent Good News Translation text for each New Revised Standard Version verse.

With happiness and joy, praising the Lord of heaven and earth, King over all: This translates a series of three participles in Greek: “being in good health,” “rejoicing,” and “praising.” The last two of these appear again at 11.15. Happiness and joy refers to extreme or great happiness; it may be expressed as “happy as could be” (Good News Translation), “was so happy that” (Contemporary English Version), or “his heart was so filled with joy that.” The Lord of heaven and earth here means “the one who rules over both heaven and earth,” and King over all repeats this information.

In languages that prefer direct speech, we may translate the first part of this verse, “As Tobias was leaving, his heart was so full of joy that he shouted: ‘The Lord of heaven and earth is wonderful, because he has made my journey so successful.’ ”

Finally he blessed Raguel and his wife Edna, and said, “I have been commanded by the Lord to honor you…”: The Greek behind this sentence simply makes no sense. Literally, it says, “And he [or, she] said to him, ‘May you be prospered to honor them all the days of their lives.’ ” Here “them” can only refer to the parents-in-law; Sarah is the only one who has been admonished about relations with her parents-in-law. There are two solutions that have been proposed:

(1) Assume that something drastic has gone wrong with the text at this point, and restore it by adjusting it to something sensible, on the basis of the Old Latin, the shorter Greek text, and some manuscripts of the text we follow here. New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New American Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible have all done this, although in somewhat different ways. New Revised Standard Version simply translates the Old Latin. If translators choose to follow this solution, New Revised Standard Version is certainly the simplest way to go about it. It yields sense, and it agrees at least partly with the alternate Greek text, which says, “and he blessed Raguel and his wife Edna.” The translator need only use New Revised Standard Version as a model, with a footnote explaining that the Greek is unclear.
(2) A solution that may be more likely is adopted by Zimmermann and by González and Alonso-Schökel in their commentaries. Assume that this sentence is out of place, and that it really belongs in verse 12, in Raguel’s words to Sarah, where it makes perfect sense. We need only change “him” to “her” to make this fit. A scribe could have been confused by the several occurrences of the word “he said,” and inadvertently left this sentence out. Then he, or a later scribe, could have “corrected” the text by writing the missing lines in the margin, or at the end of the chapter. This kind of thing frequently happened. If translators choose this solution, Raguel’s words to Sarah in verse 12 would be something like “Go with your husband and live in his parents’ house. From now on they are as much your parents as your own mother and I are. May it be your good fortune to honor them as long as they live. And let me hear only good things about you as long as I live.” Translators may then feel the need for a footnote advising their readers that this sentence has been moved to verse 12 from the end of the chapter.

There is one other solution that does not require any adjustment to the text. It is being put forward here for the first time, but the Handbook recommends it to translators. If the subject of the verb that introduces the quotation is Sarah, the text makes sense as it stands:

When Tobias left, he was as happy as could be. He praised the Lord of heaven and earth, the King of all the world, because his journey had been so successful. Sarah told him, “Honor those people [her parents who have just sent them on their way] as long as they live, and God will bless you for it.”

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.