Then Tobias went out and called him: Good News Translation “called to Raphael” is better, as Raphael is evidently not right at the door of the house (see 5.4).

For a comment on Young man, see 5.5.

My father is calling for you may be rendered “My father would like to meet you” (Good News Translation). Some languages prefer indirect speech here; so we could say, for example, “Tobias went out of the house and invited Raphael to come in and meet Tobit.”

Tobit greeted him first: Compare 7.1. The ancient rabbis wrote respectfully of people who greeted others first. This information should be put in a footnote by translators in cultures where the young must always greet their elders first.

Greeted … Joyous greetings … joy: Good News Translation has “greeted … all is well … all be well.” There is a triple wordplay in Greek here. The verb “greet” is literally “rejoice,” and it is used three times: (1) it begins with the simple meaning “greet”; (2) Raphael then responds with the stylized form used for greeting someone; (3) Tobit then takes it with the meaning “joy,” and denies that he has any joy. New Revised Standard Version cleverly manages to connect uses 1 and 2, and 2 and 3, by having Raphael say Joyous greetings. The problem, however, is that it makes Raphael’s greeting more enthusiastic and excited than it really is. Good News Translation does not connect the first use, but connects 2 and 3 with “all is well … How can all be well” (see also Contemporary English Version). This makes Tobit’s reply to Raphael relate to Raphael’s greeting; yet Tobit is doing more than saying all is not well—he is deprived of any joy in life. The translator will probably not be successful in preserving all the shades of meaning in the Greek; but some attempt should be made to make Tobit’s reply to Raphael relate to Raphael’s greeting. Otherwise the denial of joy is too abrupt. Good News Translation provides a helpful example: “ ‘I hope all is well with you.’ … ‘How can all be well with me?’ ” The translator may also want to look ahead to the close of 5.14, where the same word is used in an expression there rendered “Hearty welcome.” In a number of languages the standard greeting is something like “Sir, are you well?” This would demand the normal answer “I am well!” But Tobit’s answer in this present context would be “No, I am not well at all,” breaking with customary polite usage and thus showing his inner turmoil and depression.

I cannot see the light of heaven: In reducing this to “[I] can’t see a thing,” Good News Translation may be sacrificing too much. There is a subtle contrast intended here between seeing the sunlight and being dead, which of heaven establishes. The light of heaven is the sunlight, and heaven is the sky, though interpreters may choose to read more into it. Moreover, Tobias is later called “light of my eyes” by Anna in 10.5 and by Tobit in 11.14. Compare the note on 3.17. Translators are urged to keep the phrase “light of [or, from] heaven.”

But I lie in darkness like the dead who no longer see the light: Tobit is using lie in darkness as a metaphor for “living in darkness.” Good News Translation restructures this sentence as “It’s like being dead and no longer able to see the light”; but we may also say something like “I’m blind like a dead man lying in a dark grave.”

Although still alive, I am among the dead may also be expressed “I am alive, but I really should be dead.”

I hear people; that is, “I can hear people talking” (Good News Translation). The Greek verb “hear” does have an object, a word that can mean “voice” or simply “sound.” When applied to people it almost always refers to the human voice, not just the sound of human activity, and in many languages it will be translated like that. Good News Translation has good justification for its “talking,” but most readers would surely understand this from New Revised Standard Version.

But the young man said: Both New Revised Standard Version young man and Good News Translation “Raphael” are inserted for clarity; the Greek says simply “he.”

Take courage …: This is one of the keywords of the book. It translates a single imperative verb, which Raphael repeats. Good News Translation “Cheer up … don’t worry” conveys the force of the repetition, but not the repetition itself. The same form is used at Matt 9.2, 22 (Good News Translation “Courage”), Mark 10.49 (Good News Translation “Cheer up”), and Acts 23.11 (Good News Translation “Don’t be afraid”). Translators should take care that Raphael’s reply takes Tobit’s complaint seriously, and does not sound flippant, as if he is taking Tobit’s situation lightly. “Cheer up … don’t worry” could be taken that way in English. This same keyword will be used at the time of Tobit’s healing (11.11), as well as just before the casting out of Sarah’s demon (7.16).

In many languages Raphael, as a younger man, must soften the imperative to the older man with a polite command; for example, “Please…” or “Honorable sir, please….” Other ways to express this sentence are: “Sir, please be strong in your heart. God will heal [or, cure] you soon. Please don’t worry!” or “Honorable sir, please make your heart firm, because God will heal you soon. Please don’t be discouraged.”

The time is near for God to heal you: There is some irony in this statement since the name Raphael means “God heals.”

Can you accompany him and guide him?: Tobit asks Raphael to do two things, that he accompany and guide Tobias. In Raphael’s answer later in the verse, he will reply that he can do both: he will go with him, and he knows all the roads. Compare Raphael’s reply to Tobias’s question in verse 6.

I will pay your wages, brother: Tobit here addresses Raphael as brother, meaning of course “kinsman.” Good News Translation omits the address form, since English really has no good equivalent. Translators should use the appropriate form of address by an elderly person to a younger relative.

Plains is expressed in some languages as “flat places [or, areas].”

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.