Before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineveh may be rendered “but he lived long enough to hear that Nineveh had been destroyed.” In some languages translators must show who was the agent of the destruction—namely the army of King Cyaxares. So we may translate “But before he died he heard that the army of King Cyaxares had destroyed Nineveh.” Where New Revised Standard Version has he heard, our text actually says “he saw and heard,” which is a problem since there is no idea here that Tobias was ever again in Nineveh to “see” this. All the text needs to say is that he lived long enough to hear of it. Good News Translation could be altered to say “… lived long enough to learn about….”

He saw its prisoners being led into Media: Tobias could well have seen this. Prisoners from Nineveh being led captive into Media could have passed through Ecbatana, where Tobias was living. The text does not actually say that he saw Cyaxares himself, as Good News Translation could be understood to mean. Perhaps it is better to say something like “to see the captives King Cyaxares had taken from there being led off into Media.”

Cyaxares: This name is a guess, but it is found in all modern translations. Some Greek manuscripts have “Nebuchadnezzar,” some “Ahasuerus,” some “Ahikar.” All these are obviously and equally wrong. Nineveh was in fact taken by Cyaxares of Media and Nabopolassar of Babylon in 612 B.C. Our author may not have known this, but as long as a guess must be made, we might as well give credit where credit is due.

Before he died … before he died he rejoiced over Nineveh: The author’s purpose in this repetition is to emphasize that Tobias outlived the wicked city. Good News Translation omits the idea of Tobias rejoicing over the fall of Nineveh, but it should probably not be lost; it reflects the prophecy of Nahum which Tobit mentioned in verse 4. We may get the impression from Good News Translation that Tobias was happy over Nineveh’s fall, but the author thinks it important enough to include it. Part of the problem (in English) is that the word “rejoice” is somewhat awkward. Possible alternative translations are “He lived to celebrate the fall of Nineveh” and “Before he died he celebrated the destruction of Nineveh.”

He blessed the Lord God forever and ever: This only means that Tobias pronounced, in his praise and thanksgiving, eternal blessings on God; it does not mean that he has since spent all eternity doing so. “As long as he lived” in Good News Translation may be an attempt to render forever and ever. Contemporary English Version has “And from that time until the day Tobias died, he offered joyful praises….” New English Bible interprets the Greek a bit differently: “… praised the Lord God who lives forever and ever.”

Amen is not represented in Good News Translation. As the New Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, it is not found in all manuscripts. However, it is found in the manuscript we are following. Good News Translation may have omitted it as inappropriate for the context rather than for textual reasons. The word should be included unless it sounds impossibly strange in the translator’s language.

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.