New Revised Standard Version doesn’t open a new paragraph until verse 9, whereas Good News Translation starts paragraphs at verse 1b (“Raguel brought them into his house”) and verses 3, 4, 5, and 8b (“Raguel gave Tobias and Raphael a warm welcome”). Translators need to decide which method of paragraphing is more natural in their language for this narrative. They should also note that from verse 8 on the verse numbers in Good News Translation are different from those in New Revised Standard Version (see the comment at verse 8).

Edna in Hebrew means “pleasure, delight,” from the same root as “Eden.”

How much the young man resembles my kinsman Tobit!: Raguel makes a statement to Edna rather than asking a question. The question form in Good News Translation could be interpreted simply as exclamatory, but it presupposes that Edna knows Tobit. We have not been told that. The Greek text has “this young man” (so also Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) not the young man. Kinsman is literally “brother.” Although the text does not say what the relationship is, Tobit and Raguel are presumably distant cousins. See the note on 5.10 and also verse 1.

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.