Translation commentary on Tobit 3:14

Master translates a Greek word (despotēs) not used as often as the word usually translated “Lord.” (In the New Testament it is used of God in Luke 2.29; Acts 4.34; Rev 6.10; it is used of Christ in 2 Peter 2.1; Jude 4.) This word places more emphasis on rule than on ownership, and a word equivalent to “master” will be a suitable translation in a number of languages. This is a subtle distinction that Good News Translation is willing to sacrifice.

I am innocent of any defilement with a man: The story has already suggested that Sarah is a virgin (see 3.8). Here she states it clearly, denying any kind of sexual impurity; we already know that her marriages were never consummated (3.8). She does not literally use the word “virgin,” but Good News Translation uses it in order to define the idea of not being “defiled by a man.” Good News Translation also maintains two balanced lines that have the same meaning. Many languages, however, will follow Revised Standard Version, using euphemisms for “virgin”; for example, “I have never been [or, slept/lived] with a man.”

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.

Translation commentary on Tobit 5:10

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.

Translation commentary on Tobit 7:2

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.

Translation commentary on Tobit 9:3 - 9:4

Both Good News Translation and New Revised Standard Version are following the order of events in our Greek text, which has two elements: My father must be counting the days … and You are witness …. In the other Greek text the order of these two is the reverse. That text has been known a longer time, and verse numbering originated with it. Consequently versions based on the text we are following will either join verse numbers 3-4, as in Good News Translation, or number them in the order 4, 3, as in New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible, or even combine verses 2-4 as Contemporary English Version does (see the alternative model below).

My father must be counting the days: “My father is counting the days” (Good News Translation) is literal, but must be counting conveys the flavor of the son’s anxious concern for his father. It will be helpful to include the words “until I come home,” as Good News Translation does; for example, “My father must be counting the days until I come home” or “my father is eagerly waiting for me to come home.”

You are witness to the oath Raguel has sworn: The Good News Translation rendering “You know, too, how Raguel insists that I must stay” dilutes the problem evident in New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible that Raphael was a witness to Raguel’s oath in 8.20, although the Greek text does not place Raphael on the scene at that point (see the note on 8.20). The Greek verb used here for witness, however, does not necessarily state that Raphael was present. Tobias need be only saying, “Think about Raguel’s oath” or “Think about the solemn promise that Raguel made.” This eases the problem only a bit, since it still assumes that Raphael somehow already knows about the oath.

I cannot violate his oath is awkward in English. Normally a person does not, and cannot, violate someone else’s oath. Good News Translation “I cannot disappoint him” weakens the force of oath-taking, but is in the right direction. Tobias is unwilling to do anything that will cause Raguel’s oath to go unfulfilled. “I don’t want to make him break his promise” (Contemporary English Version) is a better model.

It is possible to combine verses 2-4 as follows:

• Azariah, my friend, you know that my father has been counting the days it should take us to go to the town of Rages and return home. Even if we are one day late, he will be very worried. You heard how Raguel made a solemn promise before God that I must stay, and I don’t want to make him break his promise. So take four servants and two camels and go to Gabael’s house in Rages. Give him the signed document, so that he will give you the money, and then bring him back with you to the wedding feast.

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.

Translation commentary on Tobit 12:1

Wedding celebration: This translates one word, generally rendered “wedding,” but here it obviously means an extended celebration or feast.

See to paying the wages of the man who went with you may be rendered “be sure that you pay the wages of the man who traveled with you.” On the agreement made, see 5.15.

Give him a bonus: This is an extra payment over and above what was agreed upon. Tobit mentioned this possibility in 5.16. “Don’t forget” is added by Good News Translation as conversationally appropriate.

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.

Translation commentary on Tobit 13:11

A bright light will shine to all the ends of the earth: Jerusalem itself is in effect that light, as Good News Translation states while reminding the reader that Jerusalem is being addressed. Good News Translation shifts focus from to all the ends of the earth to “for all the world.” This emphasizes the idea that Jerusalem’s light is purposeful, but loses the idea of its penetrating the farthest corners of earth’s darkness (compare Isa 2.3; 60.1; Psa 102.19-22). If translators cannot address Jerusalem directly, they may say, for example, “Jerusalem is a bright light that will light up [or, give light to] the whole world.”

To your holy name, bearing gifts … for the King of heaven: New Revised Standard Version is a literal rendering of the Greek. The question for interpreters and translators is whether it is Jerusalem’s own name, or whether Jerusalem’s holy name is God himself. It is parallel with to you in the previous line, but also in a less obvious parallel with the King of heaven in the next line. At the end of this verse, Jerusalem’s name is clearly meant by the name of the chosen city. Isa 62.4, 12 works with the “names” of Jerusalem, but nowhere is “Jerusalem” called a “holy name.” There are several textual variants which add to name some form of the expression “of your God.” The translator has three choices:

(1) The holy name is Jerusalem’s. If so, a literal translation may be sufficient.
(2) The holy name is God himself. If so, it may be best to eliminate holy name and simply say “God.”
(3) We should look to a different form of the text. If so, which one? The simplest choice would be what the other Greek text has: “the name of the Lord God” (so New American Bible).

The most likely solution of this problem is to take our text as it stands, but interpret holy name as a way of saying “God” (compare verse 17).

Both Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version avoid the repetition of many nations … from far away and inhabitants of the remotest parts of the earth by combining the two clauses; Good News Translation has “from far away many nations will come to you. Their people…,” and Contemporary English Version “and people will come to you from faraway nations.”

In their hands is omitted by Good News Translation as unnecessary, though in Hebrew and a number of other languages it would be quite natural style (compare Isa 6.6, where the seraph has “in his hand” a burning coal that he is holding with tongs).

For the King of heaven, see 1.18.

An alternative translation model for languages that cannot address Jerusalem directly is the following:

• Jerusalem is a bright light that will give light to the whole world.
People will come to it from faraway nations,
bringing gifts to its God, the King of heaven.
One generation after another forever will celebrate in Jerusalem,
the city that God has chosen.

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.