There may be a problem in having Raphael speak (verse 3), followed by a narrative sentence, followed by Raphael speaking again (verse 4). Good News Translation solves this by combining the two sentences spoken by Raphael into one speech, while combining the narrative sentence with the narrative statement about the dog that follows. Contemporary English Version has another alternative, putting Raphael’s second sentence at the end of the verse: “Then as the two of them ran along, followed by Tobias’s dog, Raphael said, ‘Have the gall bladder of the fish ready.’ ”

Gall: See the notes on 6.5 and 6.9.

The dog went along behind them: As both New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation say in their footnotes, the Greek text we are following here reads “the Lord,” not the dog. In fact, the Greek is even more remarkable: “and the Lord went with them, behind him and her son.” In Greek the words “dog” and “Lord” look remarkably alike; an inattentive scribe or one with failing eyesight made a simple, though astounding, error. Likewise “her son” should be “Tobias”; it is clear that the scribe looked ahead to verse 5 and copied the phrase “her son” twice. Although there are two problems in one line here, the solutions are so obvious and incontestable that footnotes are really not required. Translators should follow the text of New Revised Standard Version.

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.