Tobit

Base text. The line translates Swete's B text of Tobit, the shorter Greek recension (GI) of Codex Vaticanus, with Codex Alexandrinus (A) in his apparatus. The longer recension (GII) of Codex Sinaiticus (ℵ), which Swete prints on the lower half of the same pages, is generally judged closer to the Semitic original attested by the Qumran fragments (4Q196-199 in Aramaic, 4Q200 in Hebrew) and underlies the NRSV, NAB and NJB; the KJV and Brenton translate the GI type (Fitzmyer, Tobit, CEJL, 2003; Moore, Tobit, AB 40A, 1996). GII readings that change the sense are given in these notes, read from the uncorrected scan OCR of Swete's ℵ text and marked as such (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit). In 12:1-5 GII is longer throughout: it opens 'And when the wedding was ended', Tobias asks how much he should pay, and the angel is told to take half 'and go in health'.

Teknon 'My child' (draft and KJV 'My son'; NRSV 'My child'): the narrative calls Tobias Tobit's huios 'son', and the address uses the affectionate teknon 'child' (household-and-burial-vocabulary-tob-12-1-13). Tō anthrōpō tō synelthonti soi 'the man who went with you' is Raphael in disguise, so 'man' is right here. Names are given in their English forms: Tobit (Swete's B spelling Tōbeit; ℵ Tōbeith), Tobias, Sarah, Raphael (greek-transliteration-english-names-and-hebrew-scoped-central-entries-convention-tobit).

Agiochen 'he has brought' is Swete's printing of the first hand of Vaticanus (B*), a misspelling of agēochen, which his apparatus gives for the corrector B^b; it is kept in the Greek (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit). Tobias lists Raphael's services in order: his own safe return, Sarah's healing, the recovered money and the healing of Tobit's eyes.

Ho presbytēs 'the old man' is Tobit. Dikaioutai autō 'it is due to him' (KJV 'It is due unto him'), literally 'it is rightly his' (household-and-burial-vocabulary-tob-12-1-13).

The subject of ekalesen 'he called' is not expressed; it may be Tobit, who has just spoken, or Tobias, and the line keeps the ambiguous 'he' with the KJV. Enēnochate 'you have brought' is plural, the angel being addressed as one of the two travellers; A has the singular enēnochas. The KJV's closing 'and go away in safety' corresponds to the GII clause kai hypage hygiainōn 'and go in health', which the B text does not have (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit). Angelos is 'angel', as in the Greek books of the corpus (angelos-angel-rendering-tobit).

Exomologeisthe autō 'give thanks to him' (draft and KJV 'praise him'): exomologeomai with the dative is the Septuagint's equivalent of Hebrew hôdâ 'give thanks, praise, acknowledge' (Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, 2009, s.v.). The line gives it one rendering at every dative occurrence in the chapter (three times here and at 12:20) and 'acknowledge' where it takes a direct object (12:22); eulogeō is 'bless' throughout, so the two verbs stay distinct, which the KJV's 'praise' for both does not show (thanksgiving-and-almsgiving-vocabulary-tob-12-6-11). Megalōsynēn didote autō 'magnify him', literally 'give greatness to him'. Tous logous tōn ergōn tou theou … hypodeiknyontes 'showing forth the words of the works of God': logoi are the account of the works, which the KJV's 'the works of God' condenses. Kryptōs 'privately': Raphael takes the two aside (divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit). Swete's apparatus (read from the OCR transcription) records for A the omission of the words from the first exomologeisthe to the third kai (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Mystērion basileōs 'the secret of a king' (KJV): a king's confidential business, a matter of state that must be kept, set against the works of God, which must be made known. The same noun is 'mysteries' at Wis 6:22, where it has its religious sense. Endoxōs 'honorably' (thanksgiving-and-almsgiving-vocabulary-tob-12-6-11; divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit). Swete's apparatus gives kryptein for krypsai in A, and A omits 'Do good, and evil will not find you' (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Eleēmosynē 'alms' (KJV; NRSV 'almsgiving') is mercy shown in charitable giving, a theme that runs through Tobit (1:3, 16; 4:7-11; 14:10-11). In the Septuagint the word sometimes renders ṣədāqâ 'righteousness' (Deut 6:25; Dan 4:27 Theodotion), which is why the two words stand together here; the Hebrew-text central entries on ṣədāqâ are background only (thanksgiving-and-almsgiving-vocabulary-tob-12-6-11; greek-transliteration-english-names-and-hebrew-scoped-central-entries-convention-tobit). The comparisons with ē 'than' after a positive adjective ('good … than') are rendered 'better … than', as in the KJV. GII (scan OCR) has 'prayer with truth' where B has 'with fasting' (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Ek thanatou rhyetai 'delivers from death' and apokathariei pasan hamartian 'will purge away every sin' are the book's strongest claims for almsgiving (cf. 4:10; Sir 3:30), and the line translates them without softening. Hoi poiountes eleēmosynas kai dikaiosynas 'those who practice alms and righteousness' (KJV 'exercise') (thanksgiving-and-almsgiving-vocabulary-tob-12-6-11). Swete's apparatus gives gar after eleēmosynē in A; the KJV's 'For' follows A; B has no connective, and the line follows B (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Raphael repeats the maxim of 12:7, introduced by eirēka dē 'I have indeed said' (A de). Ou mē krypsō is the emphatic negative future, 'I will not hide' (thanksgiving-and-almsgiving-vocabulary-tob-12-6-11; divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit).

To mnēmosynon tēs proseuchēs hymōn 'the memorial of your prayer' (draft and KJV 'remembrance'): mnēmosynon is the Septuagint's term for the memorial portion of an offering, which brings the worshipper to remembrance before God (Lev 2:2; Muraoka s.v.). Here it stands with prosēgagon 'I brought', the Septuagint verb for bringing an offering near, so the prayer is presented like an offering (cf. Acts 10:4, Cornelius's prayers and alms 'have gone up as a memorial before God'). Enōpion tou hagiou 'before the Holy One'; GII (scan OCR) reads 'before the glory of the Lord' (raphael-self-disclosure-vocabulary-tob-12-12-22; divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit). Nymphē 'daughter-in-law', a word that also means 'bride': Sarah is Tobias's wife (household-and-burial-vocabulary-tob-12-1-13).

Peristeilēs ton nekron 'lay out the dead' (draft and KJV 'cover'): peristellō used of a corpse is 'wrap, dress, lay out' for burial (LSJ s.v.), the care for the dead for which Tobit left his meal at 2:1-4. To ariston 'dinner', the main meal (household-and-burial-vocabulary-tob-12-1-13). GII continues with a clause the B text lacks, checked against Swete's page image (p. 842) as tote apestalmai epi se peirasai se 'then I was sent to you to test you', before the sending to heal of 12:14; see the reception note at 12:19 (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Apesteilen me ho theos iasasthai se 'God has sent me to heal you'. The name Raphael is Hebrew for 'God has healed' (from rāp̄āʾ 'heal', BDB s.v., and ʾēl), and the chapter's verbs of healing (etherapeusen 12:3, iasasthai here) echo it, though the Greek does not explain the name (divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit; household-and-burial-vocabulary-tob-12-1-13). For the GII clause about testing that precedes this verse in Sinaiticus, see 12:13 (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Heis ek tōn hepta hagiōn angelōn 'one of the seven holy angels': Raphael's self-identification belongs with the seven-archangel list of 1 Enoch 20, where he is the second of the seven, and with the seven angels 'who stand before God' at Rev 8:2 (central seven-archangels-list-1-enoch-20-tob-12-rev-8-cross-corpus, whose rationale already quotes this verse; angelos-angel-rendering-tobit).

Hoi prosanapherousin tas proseuchas tōn hagiōn 'who present the prayers of the saints': hagioi is literally 'holy ones'. The line keeps the KJV's 'the saints' because the corpus renders the same phrase 'the prayers of the saints' at Rev 5:8 and 8:3-4, where an angel likewise brings them before God, and because here the holy ones are the faithful who pray (Tobit and Sarah, 12:12), not angels. Eisporeuontai enōpion tēs doxēs tou hagiou 'go in before the glory of the Holy One'; the KJV's 'go in and out' adds 'and out', which the Greek does not have (raphael-self-disclosure-vocabulary-tob-12-12-22; divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit). GII (scan OCR) has 'one of the seven angels who stand by (hoi paresthēkasin) and go in before the glory of the Lord', without 'holy' and without the presenting of prayers (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit; greek-transliteration-english-names-and-hebrew-scoped-central-entries-convention-tobit).

Eirēnē hymin estai 'it will go well with you' (KJV): literally 'peace will be to you'. Eirēnē here has the sense of Hebrew šālôm, welfare and safety, and the line follows the KJV in rendering that sense (raphael-self-disclosure-vocabulary-tob-12-12-22; divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit). A has hoti before eirēnē; GII (scan OCR) has the greeting 'Peace to you' (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Textual note. B has no verb after tou theou hymōn 'of your God'; 'it was … by the will of your God' supplies only the copula. Swete's apparatus (read from the OCR transcription) gives ēlthon 'I came' for A, which the KJV and Brenton follow ('by the will of our God I came'); the KJV's 'our' presupposes hēmōn for hymōn, a reading the OCR apparatus does not show. The line translates B (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit; divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit).

Ōptanomēn hymin 'I appeared to you': optanomai 'appear, let oneself be seen' is a rare Hellenistic verb (BDAG s.v.; cf. Acts 1:3, of the risen Jesus 'appearing' over forty days), and the imperfect describes repeated appearing through 'all the days' of the journey. Ouk ephagon oude epion 'I neither ate nor drank'. Horasin hymeis etheōreite 'you were seeing a vision': horasis is 'sight, appearance, vision' (LSJ s.v.), so what the two saw at meals was an appearance, not a body eating (raphael-self-disclosure-vocabulary-tob-12-12-22). The central divine-eating-anthropomorphism cites this verse as the Second-Temple reinterpretation of the meals of Gen 18:8 and 19:3, where the visitors eat. GII (scan OCR) has 'and you see me, that I ate nothing; but a vision was being seen by you', without 'all the days' (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit; greek-transliteration-english-names-and-hebrew-scoped-central-entries-convention-tobit).

Wheel of Heaven reading (reception note, not a translation claim). The Book Which Tells the Truth (ch. 3) introduces the passage: « Dans Tobit, l'un des robots des créateurs, nommé Raphaël, vient aussi éprouver les réactions des humains face à eux. Et il repart ensuite, après leur avoir prouvé qui il était » ('In Tobit, one of the creators' robots, named Raphael, also comes to test the reactions of humans toward them. And he then departs again, after having proved to them who he was'). It then quotes 12:19-20: « Tous les jours je me rendais visible pour vous ; je ne mangeais ni ne buvais (...) je remonte vers celui qui m'a envoyé, et écrivez dans un livre tout ce qui s'est accompli » (Tobit, XII, 19-20). The English edition has the KJV wording: 'All these days I did appear unto you; but I did neither eat nor drink (…) I go up to him that sent me; but write all things which are done in a book.' The quotation follows the GI text translated here word for word: 'tous les jours' is pasas tas hēmeras, which GII lacks, and the reflexive 'je me rendais visible' is the middle sense of ōptanomēn, 'I let myself be seen'. The ellipsis leaves out 'but you were seeing a vision' and 'give thanks to God'. 'Robots of the creators' is the book's identification of the figure the Greek calls an angel (12:15, 22) sent by God (12:14, 20); the line renders angelos 'angel' and theos 'God'. That Raphael came 'to test' people (« éprouver ») is not in the B text; the nearest wording is the GII clause 'then I was sent to you to test you', reported at 12:13 (raelian-canon-citation-reception-note-convention-tobit).

Ta syntelesthenta 'the things that have been accomplished' (draft and KJV 'that have been done'): synteleō is 'bring to completion, accomplish' (LSJ s.v.; Muraoka s.v.), the verb of LXX Gen 2:1-2 for the completion of heaven and earth, and the aorist passive participle names what has been brought to its end: Tobias's safe return and the healing of Sarah and Tobit. Anabainō pros ton aposteilanta me 'I am going up to him who sent me'. Exomologeisthe tō theō 'give thanks to God' (raphael-self-disclosure-vocabulary-tob-12-12-22; thanksgiving-and-almsgiving-vocabulary-tob-12-6-11; divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit). GII (scan OCR) has 'write all these things that have happened to you' (ta symbanta hymin), without 'in a book', and adds 'and he went up' (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Wheel of Heaven reading (reception note, not a translation claim). This is the second half of the quotation at TBWTT-3:264 (see 12:19): « je remonte vers celui qui m'a envoyé, et écrivez dans un livre tout ce qui s'est accompli »; English edition 'I go up to him that sent me; but write all things which are done in a book' (KJV). The French 'tout ce qui s'est accompli' agrees with the line's 'accomplished', which follows the lexicon; 'done' is the KJV's word. The French 'je remonte' ('I go back up') adds a return that anabainō 'I go up' does not mark, and the line keeps 'I am going up'. 'In a book' (eis biblion) is in the B text the book quotes and absent from GII (raelian-canon-citation-reception-note-convention-tobit).

Ouk eidon auton 'they did not see him'; A has ouketi 'no longer' (KJV 'saw him no more'), and Swete's apparatus records that ane- of anestēsan is written over an erasure in B (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).

Angelos Kyriou 'an angel of the Lord' is anarthrous in B (A ho angelos, KJV 'the angel'). The phrase is the Septuagint equivalent of Hebrew malʾak YHWH, but the Hebrew-text central malakh-yhwh-messenger ('messenger of YHWH') is not applied to the Greek, by the same rule as in Matthew: angelos is 'angel' and kyrios 'the Lord' (angelos-angel-rendering-tobit; divine-designations-theos-kyrios-ho-hagios-tobit; greek-transliteration-english-names-and-hebrew-scoped-central-entries-convention-tobit). Exōmologounto ta erga with a direct object is 'they acknowledged … works' (draft and KJV 'confessed'), the sense 'acknowledge, declare publicly'; 'confessed' would suggest confession of sin to a current reader (thanksgiving-and-almsgiving-vocabulary-tob-12-6-11). Swete's apparatus gives tou theou kai for autou in A, the KJV's 'the great and wonderful works of God' (swete-vaticanus-gi-base-recension-and-variant-reporting-convention-tobit).