For Jerusalem will be built as his house for all ages: The Greek of the first line does not make good sense, “Because Jerusalem will be built to/for a city his home unto all ages.” The problem is the phrase “to/for a city.” Without it, there is good sense: “Jerusalem will be built as his home unto all ages.” There is very good reason for thinking that the Old Latin is correct here when it has “again” instead of “to/for a city.” (The Greek words “city” and “again” look much alike.) Good News Translation assumes this when it translates “Jerusalem will be re built and will be his home forever” (similarly Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised English Bible). In languages that do not have the passive voice, this line may be expressed as “They [unknown agents] will rebuild Jerusalem for him [the Lord] to live in forever.”
The second use of “Jerusalem” in Good News Translation reestablishes the second person singular after the first line of verse 16; but in some languages the third person can be retained (see verse 9).
How happy: This is the same word used in verse 14.
A remnant of my descendants should survive to see your glory; that is, “if any of my descendants….” Good News Translation seems (mistakenly) to have Tobit make the assumption that all his descendants will one day see the restored Jerusalem. Survive does not translate a Greek word, but it is clearly implied by the line, “I will be happy if out of all my descendants, any should one day see your glory….” Glory in this context means “splendor” or “beauty.”
For acknowledge see verses 6, 10; 12.6. For the King of heaven, see 1.18.
The gates of Jerusalem: For gates see 11.16. From here to the end of the prayer, except for your walls, Jerusalem is spoken of in the third person. Good News Translation prefers to continue the second person address to Jerusalem. We can achieve consistency with fewer changes by changing your glory to a third person “the glory of Jerusalem”; this would mean that the whole discourse from verse 15 to the end would be without interruption in the third person.
Sapphires are semiprecious stones that are blue in color, while emeralds are precious stones that are green in color. In cultures where these stones are unknown, translators may say, for example, “they will make Jerusalem’s gates out of precious [or, expensive] stones named ‘sapphire’ and ‘emerald.’ ”
And all your walls with precious stones may be rendered “and [they will make] your walls with other kinds of precious/expensive stones.”
The towers of Jerusalem will be built with gold, and their battlements with pure gold: For towers see verse 12. Battlements were presumably well fortified projections from the towers on the city wall that enabled more archers to stand in defense of the city at any single point. It may be difficult in many languages to find suitable terms for both towers and battlements. In such cases we may combine these two lines and say something like “Your towers will be of gold all the way to the top” (Contemporary English Version) or simply “they will use pure gold to build your towers [or, strong high places] on the walls.”
The streets … will be paved with ruby and with stones of Ophir: The ruby is a precious stone with a deep red color. Ophir is the name of a place whose location is unknown today. Suggestions have been made placing it anywhere from Africa to India. It was known primarily as a source of fine gold. Here the name adds a note of extra interest to these valuable objects, so for stones of Ophir Good News Translation has “precious jewels.” To say the streets will be paved means people will cover them with material of some kind—in this case precious stones.
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.