Ordered … asked: Literally, Raguel “tells” his servants (verse 18) and “tells” his wife (verse 19). The same word is used for both, with no regard to degrees of politeness. (It is also used in verse 19 of the slaughter.) In Good News Translation, he “ordered his servants” and “told his wife.” New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible allow Raguel to order his servants, but to politely ask his wife.

He went out to the herd and brought two steers and four rams: The herd obviously includes both sheep and cattle. Contemporary English Version shows this with “herd of livestock.” In cultures that do not have “herds” or “flocks” of animals, we may say simply “Raguel went out to his animals” or “… went out to where his animals were kept.” Steers and “oxen” (Good News Translation) both refer to castrated male cattle. Rams (male sheep) were not often castrated.

Ordered them to be slaughtered: In languages that do not have a passive voice, we may translate “ordered his servants to slaughter them” (similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

The Greek does not say what they began to make preparations for, but it is obviously “the wedding feast” (Good News Translation).

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.