The whole of verse 6 is a neatly structured unit. From the four sentence poetic structure in New Revised Standard Version, if we label the four sentences a, b, c, and d, we can easily observe (1) that sentences a and b are equivalent to sentences c and d, and (2) that sentence a is parallel to sentence c, while sentence b is parallel to sentence d. This arrangement disappears in the restructuring of Good News Translation. Contemporary English Version omits sentence d, evidently because of its repetitiveness. Translators should consider carefully whether they can keep the abcd arrangement of New Revised Standard Version without sacrificing natural style.
So now deal with me as you will; that is, “Now treat me as you please” (Good News Translation) or “Do whatever you want with me” (Contemporary English Version).
Command my spirit to be taken from me: My spirit means “my life breath” (New American Bible), “my life” (Good News Translation). Command … to be taken is interpreted by both Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version as “Take … away”; we may express this line as “Take my life away.” In certain languages this is expressed as “Cause me to die.” In some other languages a polite word or particle will be required to soften the imperative directed at God; for example, “Please let me die.”
So that I may be released from the face of the earth is a result clause, stating the result of God commanding Tobit’s spirit to be taken. This becomes a separate request in Good News Translation, “free me from this world.” Some translators may keep the result relationship and have a passive clause; for example, “so that I may be freed from this world.” But in languages that do not have the passive voice, translators may follow Good News Translation.
And become dust: Good News Translation “let my body return to the earth” is a familiar English clause, but in Greek the verb is only “become,” as in become dust. New Revised Standard Version earth and dust, and Good News Translation “world” and “earth” translate the same Greek noun, which is used twice in the line. Both translations represent the repeated word by different English words, in an attempt to be sensitive to context. Contemporary English Version renders these as “earth” and “grave,” reversing the order as follows:
• Send my body to the grave [dust],
and set me free
from life on earth.
If translators have a word like the Greek that means both “world” and “dust,” they should use that here if it will be good style and the meaning will be clear to readers.
The comparison it is better for me to die than to live is not stated fully in Good News Translation, but is clearly to be understood from “I would be better off dead.” Contemporary English Version keeps this relationship with “I would rather die than to live.”
The reason Tobit thinks he would be better off dead is because I have had to listen to undeserved insults. This may be rendered “I have had to listen to insults I don’t deserve” or “… listen to people insulting me when I am innocent.”
Great is the sorrow within me: This may also be expressed as “I have great sorrow in my heart.”
Command, O Lord: New Revised Standard Version preserves a fine point in the Greek by using the verb Command at two points in this long verse. The Greek uses the same imperative form, and on both occasions Tobit asks for death. In both these places the same Greek verb “release” is also used to refer to death. New Revised Standard Version maintains this also with that I may be released from the face of the earth, that I be released from this distress, and release me to go (compare 3.13).
That I be released from this distress: This may be translated “bring all my troubles to an end” (Good News Translation) or “cause me to not have any more troubles.”
Release me to go to the eternal home: The eternal home is literally “the eternal place.” Good News Translation expresses this line as “take me to my eternal rest.” Another possibility is “take me away to the place where I will stay forever.”
Do not, O Lord, turn your face away from me: The figure of God’s (not) turning his face away from Tobit becomes in Good News Translation simply “Don’t reject my prayer,” which is certainly possible in this context. Another possibility is “Please don’t abandon me.” However, in some languages the metaphor of turn your face away may be retained, or some other metaphor may be used, such as “Don’t turn your back on me” (so Contemporary English Version). Another possible model is “Don’t abandon me.”
For it is better …: The final three lines repeat information found earlier in the verse. See comments above.
At the end of this section, the storyline leaves Tobit in his despair. From this point on it refers to him in the third person.
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.