This book tells the story is literally “book of words,” which is the Greek equivalent of a Hebrew phrase, the second word of which, davar, means both “word” and “deed.” Although the first part of the book (1.3-3.6) is narrated by Tobit in the first person singular, “acts” or “deeds” is surely the intended sense. In certain languages translators may express this clause in a way similar to Hebrew; for example, “This is the book of the deeds of…” or “This book tells about the deeds of…”; or we may even say “This book tells what happened to….” Good News Translation has “this is the story of my life” for This book tells the story. The Contemporary English Version is even shorter with “this book tells my story.” Both Contemporary English Version and Good News Translation take the small liberty of moving the beginning of the first person speech to the beginning of the book, and many translators will find this restructuring helpful.

Son of: In many languages the repeated use of son of will be unnatural style and confusing to the readers. In such languages the model of Good News Translation may be a good guide. It states that Tobit’s father was Tobiel, his grandfather Ananiel (New Revised Standard Version Hananiel), and his great-grandfather Aduel; it then goes on to list Aduel’s ancestors in a similar way. Some translators, though, will find the model of Contemporary English Version more natural style:

• my ancestors include my father Tobiel, my grandfather Hananiel, and then Aduel, Gabael, and Raphael.

In this list translators may spell the name of Tobit’s grandfather either as Hananiel or “Ananiel,” depending on the spelling system of their language. The phrase son of Raphael son of Raguel appears in the text we are following, but most other manuscripts and versions omit both names. Revised Standard Version and New Jerusalem Bible do this, for example; so translators may omit both names on good authority and know that they are taking the same course as some of the major English versions.

The descendants of Asiel: Asiel is otherwise unknown.

The tribe of Naphtali: Naphtali was one of the northern tribes of Israel; much of its population was exiled to Assyria (roughly modern Iraq) by its king Shalmaneser the Fifth in 722 B.C. (2 Kgs 17.1-6). The ancestors of Tobit who are named here are otherwise unknown. In some languages there is no word for tribe or “clan.” In such cases, something like “family group of Naphtali” or “descendants of the great ancestor Naphtali” may be used.

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.