Although Good News Translation begins a new section here, the Handbook does not recommend this.

I alone went often to Jerusalem for the festivals: Tobit affirms his own faithfulness to the temple and the Torah; I alone went means “I was the only one who went.” Tobit’s statement that he alone of his family used to attend the festivals in Jerusalem is not quite true. In 5.14 he names two kinsmen who used to go with him on these occasions. Either the author has missed this discrepancy, or the author is having Tobit, as narrator, voice a view of his own goodness that is mistaken or false. (In chapter 5 Tobit is not the narrator.) The aspect of the verb went often indicates that Tobit “made it a practice to go often” to Jerusalem, the valid place of worship, at the times of the festivals. For the festivals may be expanded to “to celebrate the religious festivals” (Good News Translation). These festivals were of course not occasions for merrymaking, but for solemn religious ceremonies. They would be the festivals called Passover, Weeks (or, Pentecost; Good News Translation “Harvest Festival”), and Booths (or, Shelters/Huts), when every male Jew was expected to come to Jerusalem with offerings, according to Deut 12.10-11; 16.1-17.

As it is prescribed for all Israel by an everlasting decree: This reference may be the everlasting decree, though Good News Translation understands it in a broader sense as “the Law of Moses.” Contemporary English Version has a more neutral rendering: “just as God’s unchanging command says to do.” Any one of these interpretations is valid.

I would hurry off may be difficult to translate in a number of languages. Tobit probably walked, accompanied by pack animals carrying all the articles he lists in the second half of this verse. So in some languages it may be necessary to use a verb such as “travel” or “go” and say something like “I would go as quickly as possible.”

With the first fruits of the crops …: According to Deut 18.4, God was to be given the first fruits of the crops as well as the first wool clipped from the sheep, the shearings (compare Deut 14.22-23). Crops would include not only the grain crops such as wheat and barley, but also the fruit from vineyards (grapes and wine), olive trees (oil), and other fruits such as figs and pomegranates (see verse 7). In some languages crops may be expressed as “everything they grew in their fields.” The firstlings of the flock are “the first-born of my animals” (see Deut 15.19-23). The tithes of the cattle means “a tenth of my cattle” or “one in every ten of my cattle [cows and bulls].” In parts of the world where cattle are unknown translators will need to use a loan word such as “cow” and say for example, “animals named ‘cow.’ ” It will also be helpful to include a picture of these animals. Tobit used to present these offerings to the priests, the descendants of Aaron, at the temple altar.

The final sentence in Good News Translation, “Then I would stand before the altar in the Temple…,” is the first sentence in verse 7 in New Revised Standard Version (see also Contemporary English Version). Translators are urged to follow New Revised Standard Version in this matter.

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.