From this point until the end of chapter 7 the verse numbers in Good News Translation do not correspond with those in New Revised Standard Version. For each verse or group of verses we will print the text from Good News Translation that matches that in New Revised Standard Version, and show at the top what its numbering in Good News Translation actually is.

Then Raguel slaughtered a ram from the flock: A ram is a male sheep. It will be helpful to state clearly that the ram is being slaughtered for a meal, not as a sacrifice; for example, “Then Raguel killed one of his male sheep so that the servants could prepare its meat for the evening meal” (similarly Contemporary English Version). That the sheep is a male is not essential information, so if a translator finds including it awkward, it may be omitted.

A problem is whether received them very warmly refers even in part to what has gone before, or whether it only looks forward to the next scene at the meal. New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible close a paragraph with this first sentence of verse 9. Good News Translation and New American Bible use the sentence to open a new paragraph. The use of a noun in New American Bible, “gave them a cordial reception” is at least slanted towards interpreting the welcome as a meal, a social event; Contemporary English Version expresses this as “he made Tobias and Raphael feel welcome in his home.” Probably it is best to take the slaughter of the ram as an event in between the meeting and the meal, so that received them very warmly refers to the meal. By reversing the order, Good News Translation makes for a strange sequence: only after the joyous meeting does Raguel welcome the two. (What is described in verses 1-8 if not a warm welcome?) Revised English Bible suggests a good solution. Whereas New English Bible had closed the previous paragraph with this sentence (as in New Revised Standard Version), Revised English Bible has rethought it, and opens the new paragraph with this sentence: “Raguel slaughtered a ram from the flock and entertained them royally.” The Handbook suggests opening a paragraph with this sentence, and offers as a model: “Raguel had one of his rams slaughtered, prepared, and cooked. He then acted as host at a cheerful meal.” (“Prepared, and cooked” is a translational addition that seems helpful in English; translators may feel it unnecessary in their own situations.)

When they had bathed and washed themselves: Although Good News Translation combines the two terms, two verbs are used for bathed and washed. The first verb is usually used of the whole body. The latter verb is generally used of parts of the body, and may refer to a ritual washing of the hands before a meal (Matt 15.2; Mark 7.3). Such a washing appears not to have been required of all Jews, but to have been practiced by the most observant. This may account for the author’s studious mention of it here as being apart from bathing. In cultures that have a similar ritual washing of the hands, translators should keep both types of washing, as does the Greek. In other cultures, though, it will probably be better to combine these two terms, as Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version do.

Reclined to dine: See the note on 2.1. This meal is not the marriage feast, which will occur in chapters 8-9.

Tobias said to Raphael, “Brother Azariah, ask Raguel to give me my kinswoman Sarah”: At the meal, Tobias is not asking Raphael for information, as in Good News Translation. He is telling him to do something, although politely. He is probably whispering to Raphael (see “Raguel overheard” in verse 10), as they had already sat down to eat near Raguel, and it would have been very impolite for Tobias to say this out loud. Contemporary English Version interprets it this way by saying, “Tobias whispered to Raphael, ‘Ask him to let me marry Sarah!’ ” My kinswoman Sarah is literally “my sister Sarah.” It would probably be more natural in English to have Tobias call Sarah his “cousin” here, but translating the term at all probably creates unnecessary problems. It adds nothing by way of information, and Good News Translation does well to omit it.

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.