Those who act in accordance with the truth will prosper in all their activities: This verse is a continuation of the sentence begun in verse 5, a clause explaining why a person should not “walk in the ways of wrongdoing.” The reason is that those who act in accordance with the truth [or, do truth/do what is right] will prosper in all their activities. Good News Translation creates a separate sentence for this thought, and recasts it in the second person. Note, however, that “Be honest” is not to be understood as a command simply to speak the truth, but is about doing it, living an honest life. Contemporary English Version is similar to Good News Translation: “People who are honest are always successful.”

To all those who practice righteousness: This sentence is completed in the following verse, where it is clear that the author is speaking about “good people who are poor.” So an alternative translation model is the following: “For those people who do right [or, faithfully obey God], 7 but are poor….” It is also possible to make this an “if” clause as follows: “And if people faithfully obey God, 7 but are poor….” Note that Good News Translation translates this clause in verse 7.

At this point the Greek text being followed by both Good News Translation and New Revised Standard Version has a large gap. It reads clearly enough: “To those who do righteousness 19 the Lord will give good counsel.” Though this is coherent Greek, it is customary at this point to follow the other Greek text by including the material found in verses 7-19 in most translations. This Handbook will use the longer text.

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.