She used to send what she made to the owners and they would pay wages to her: The first sentence describes the ordinary situation in the household against which the unusual event involving the goat occurred. The two verbs, send and pay, describe the customary procedure. What exactly Anna used to send is not stated, but it was obviously what she made, “a finished piece of cloth” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version).

The owners (literally “their owners”) surely refers to those who had supplied Anna with raw material for her work, “The people she worked for” (Good News Translation).

One day, the seventh of Dystrus: Dystrus was the name of a month in the Macedonian calendar, corresponding to late February or early March. Good News Translation “One spring day” and New American Bible “Late in the winter” give simply the time of year rather than burden the translation with an obscure term from an ancient calendar. The actual day and month, however, may have an important function in the narrative. The incident with the goat proves to be a “defining moment” for Tobit, forcing him to the despondent prayer of chapter 3. As Tobit the narrator relates the incident, he shows by giving the precise date how deeply this event is burned into his memory: “One day—I remember it was the seventh of Dystrus—….” If the name of the month is retained, something must be built into the text to identify it as a month, if only “the month of Dystrus.”

Both a piece she had woven and “a finished piece of cloth from the loom” (Good News Translation) translate a single Greek word, a technical term in weaving. The Good News Translation translation is as good and clear and as simple a definition as we could wish for.

They paid her full wages and also gave her a young goat for a meal: What Anna is paid is stated in full here, as opposed to the usual wages just mentioned, to emphasize that the young goat was a token of real appreciation, over and above what Anna had bargained for and earned. It is a young goat, not full grown, and it is given for a meal, an important touch missing from Good News Translation. If goats are unknown in a particular culture, translators may wish to borrow a foreign name and say for example, “an animal named ‘goat.’” It will also be helpful to include an illustration of a goat. The Greek word chosen for meal has overtones of lavishness as well as of a home atmosphere (so Contemporary English Version “so we could have a feast”). Tobit is ashamed to tell us this, but this young goat that he took such unjustified offense at had been not only given to Anna legitimately, it had been given with him in mind also, as a family meal.

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.