Let us run ahead of your wife: Possibly “go on ahead” (Good News Translation) is all that is intended, but the Greek verb does mean “run.” The impression must not be given that the whole party is running, however. Contemporary English Version solves this problem with “why don’t you and I run on ahead of your wife Sarah.”

While they are still on the way; that is, “before everyone else arrives” (Good News Translation). There are others in the group—slaves, at any rate (see 10.10). Good News Translation “everyone else” subtly reminds us of that. The pronoun they in New Revised Standard Version after the mention of Tobias’s wife is jarring. New American Bible is a good model, “the rest of the party,” as long as “party” is understood as “group.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Why don’t you and I run ahead of your wife Sarah and get the house ready before everyone else arrives?

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.