If you turn to him: Turn is the keyword in the first four lines of this verse. It conveys the thought that the people have not been faithful, and that God has been hiding his face, that is, not bestowing his favor. They are being punished in exile. But if they turn to him, he will turn to them.
With all your heart and with all your soul: In the Old Testament the heart normally stands for intellect and will, and the soul for emotion and feelings. In some cultures the two may not be thought of separately as in the Greek and Hebrew, and they may have to be combined; for example, “with all your being,” “completely,” or “without any reservation.”
To do what is true before him: The literal “do truth before him” becomes do what is true before him in New Revised Standard Version, “live in loyal obedience to him” in Good News Translation. The basic meaning is “be sincere in your dealings with him” (compare the note on 4.6).
Will no longer hide his face from you: Good News Translation expresses this as “will no longer hide himself.” Contemporary English Version avoids the metaphor altogether with “no longer will he refuse to help you.” Translators should decide if the metaphor is clear in their language; if it is not, Contemporary English Version is a helpful model.
So now see what he has done: The connector So now stresses the need to “consider what God has done.” Good News Translation somewhat misses the point. People are called on to “see/behold” these things, perhaps for the first time. See is literal, but “consider,” “take into account,” “think of” convey the meaning. An alternative model is “So, consider [or, think of] the things God has done.”
Acknowledge him: See verses 10, 16; 12.6.
At the top of your voice: This is the same idiom found in 11.15. Good News Translation, somewhat inconsistently, renders it differently here. Tobit is calling on his hearers to do exactly what he did in 11.15 when he became aware of what God had done for him. “Shout praises to him” (Contemporary English Version) is another possibility for the sixth line.
Bless the Lord of righteousness: Lord of righteousness is a Hebrew idiom for “righteous Lord,” which means “the Lord always does what is right.” In some languages this clause is expressed with two separate clauses: “Praise your Lord [or, Master]! He always does what is right.”
King of the ages means “the eternal king” (Good News Translation) or “the King [or, high chief] who rules forever” (similarly Contemporary English Version).
In the land of my exile: From here through the words “King of the ages” in verse 10, there is a large gap in the text we are following. The gap is obviously due to a careless scribe, who wrote King of the ages in verse 6, and looking ahead, saw the same words “King of the ages” in verse 10, thus omitting everything in between. One of the Dead Sea fragments of Tobit contains the passage. The Good News Translation footnote at verse 10, “Some manuscripts do not have verses 6b-10a…,” is not quite right. There is only one manuscript that does not contain the long passage, but it happens to be the important one that modern translations follow.
In the land of my exile I acknowledge him, and show his power and majesty …: On acknowledging him in a land of … exile, see the note on verse 3. The terms power and majesty are similar in meaning. In many languages translators will have similar terms; for example, “great and powerful.” But in other languages translators may use a superlative such as “great strength” or “very powerful.” In such a case we may express these two lines as “In the land where I live as a captive, I tell all these sinners that God is very powerful.”
Turn back … show you mercy: This part of the verse is in quotation marks, as Tobit directly addresses the nation of sinners he has just mentioned. While it is clear where this embedded quotation begins, it is not clear where it should end. Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and New Revised Standard Version agree that it ends with the end of verse 6, but New American Bible extends it through verse 8. We recommend ending the quotation with verse 6. The single quotes used in Good News Translation and New Revised Standard Version are required by the fact that the whole chapter is included in double quotes, after the introductory “And he said.” Contemporary English Version introduces this quote with “I will say, Turn from your sins….”
Turn back you sinners may be rendered “Stop sinning, you people.”
Do what is right before him; that is, “do what pleases God (Good News Translation)” or more simply “obey God” (Contemporary English Version).
Perhaps he may look with favor upon you and show you mercy: Favor and mercy are similar in meaning. Show you mercy here probably means “spare you from punishment.” So another way to express this sentence is “Perhaps he will be kind to you and not punish you.”
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.