Woe to me: This is expressed idiomatically in English as “Oh” (Good News Translation), and “I’ve never known such sorrow” (Contemporary English Version). Most languages have similar expressions that show extreme sorrow like the Greek Ouai. In a number of languages, particularly in Africa, there is a suitable ideophone for expressing Woe to me. See the discussion on ideophones at 6.3.

My child: Anna is here speaking to Tobias as though he were present.

The light of my eyes: “The joy of my life” (Good News Translation) expresses the meaning of the figurative expression. There is, however, a violent appropriateness in Anna’s choice of words. She is speaking to the blind Tobit, who has hurt her deeply (2.13-14), and whom she blames for Tobias’s supposed death (compare 5.18). Tobit himself describes Tobias as “light of my eyes” in 11.14, after his sight is restored.

Anna is at the same time blaming herself. Good News Translation “Oh … why did I ever…?” is much more effective in English than Woe to me … that …; but the question must be understood as an exclamation expressing intense regret. Anna is not trying to find actual reasons for why she let Tobias go; she simply regrets doing it. This is one of the book’s dramatic moments.

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.