Now, day by day: “Meanwhile” (Good News Translation) is a good connective device to help the reader understand that the following account is happening at the same time as the events described in the last part of the previous section. However, a new chapter and section begin here, so it will be helpful for translators to connect this verse with the previous chapter; we may say, for example, “While Tobias was greeting Gabael, back in Nineveh Tobit was counting the days.”

Tobit kept counting: “Was keeping count” (Good News Translation) is a slightly better equivalent of the Greek than kept counting. This is not the same word used in 9.4; it is a term used in business for keeping records. Tobit is keeping count of the days, of course, because he is anxious for Tobias’s return, and wants to know when to expect him back.

How many days Tobias would need for going and for returning; that is, for traveling to Rages in Media and returning to Nineveh. The distance between the two places is approximately 725 kilometers (450 miles) by air, but the country is mountainous and the journey would be much longer for land travelers. It is estimated that land travel at the time could progress at a rate of around 30 kilometers per day (20 miles). To cover 725 kilometers at a rate of 30 per day would require about 25 days. Since Tobias’s actual route would have been longer, it is reasonable to suppose the trip there and back would have required about two months, not counting any time spent in Rages.

And when the days had passed may be rendered “But when the time had gone by” (Contemporary English Version).

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.