As for me will be repetitive in a number of languages and may be omitted (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).
I exalt my God may be rendered “I praise God, whom I serve.”
My soul rejoices in the King of heaven: This means that the King of heaven, God, is the source of my joy. God gives/brings/causes me joy. My soul here refers to myself; Good News Translation has “my whole being.” For King of heaven, see 1.18.
The differences between New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation in this verse mostly result from dividing the lines of the Greek text differently. Literally we have “I will exalt my God and my soul [will exalt] the King of heaven and will rejoice in his majesty.” Good News Translation has moved “will rejoice in his majesty” to the first line, and renders “rejoice in his greatness.” Good News Translation also uses “praise” and “honors” to represent “exalt.” New Revised Standard Version ignores the second “and,” so it connects “King of heaven” with “rejoice” and moves “his majesty” into the next verse. We believe Good News Translation is more satisfactory. An alternative model for this verse is:
• I will praise my God; his greatness makes me joyful.
My whole being honors the King of heaven.
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.
