I will add something to your wages: The narrative is clear at this point, but a bit jerky. Tobit seems to be getting more generous with each sentence. He has already promised fair wages plus expenses, but he goes on to “add a bonus” (Good News Translation), but for no apparent reason. The other text adds, as the New Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, “when you return safely.” This helps a bit, but it may be a scribe’s effort to solve the same problem: Why the bonus? The Good News Translation solution is “Be a good companion.” It makes sense, but still, the text says only “… So go with my son, 16 and I will add something to your wages.”

Good health … good health: Raphael is using here the same word Tobit used in welcoming him, “May you come/go in good health.” Compare the note on the beginning of verse 14.

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.