This verse refers to what happened after the political break with the dynasty of David. The people abandoned the worship of God in the temple, in favor of worshiping the images of calves or bulls set up at certain shrines in northern Israel (1 Kgs 12.28-33). This break was made by King Jeroboam the First about the year 922 B.C.

For my kindred see verse 3.

Our ancestral house of Naphtali is the same as “the whole tribe of my ancestor Naphtali” in the previous verse. It will not be necessary in most languages to repeat the name Naphtali; the phrase “my tribe” will be sufficient.

Sacrificed to the calf that King Jeroboam of Israel had erected in Dan and on all the mountains of Galilee: For sacrificed see the comment in the previous verse. Good News Translation makes it clear that the calf is a “gold bull-calf,” namely a young male. The textual variant “heifer” mentioned in the New Revised Standard Version footnote is quite minor and may be ignored. Contemporary English Version adds “idol” to the idea of calf by translating “offered sacrifices to the idol that King Jeroboam had made in the shape of a calf.” In cultures where cattle are unknown, translators may borrow the word for “cow” from a major language and say something like “sacrificed animals to the idol that King Jeroboam had made in the shape of a young male cow.” The use of the calf here with the definite article shows that this calf was an idol that Tobit’s readers were familiar with. Translators should try to find a term that brings this out. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version seem to understand that there was only one idol, situated in Dan. However, New Revised Standard Version suggests that there were a number of these calves set up in many shrines on the mountaintops of northern Galilee. Translators are urged to follow the interpretation of New Revised Standard Version.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• My relatives and everyone else in my tribe went to the town of Dan. There they offered sacrifices to the idol that King Jeroboam had made in the shape of a bull-calf. He had also placed these idols on hilltops all over northern Galilee.

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.