Tobit NABRE

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Does anyone know why the book of Tobit is so different In the NABRE. I usually read the RSV2CE but I bought the ‘fathers of the church bible’ which uses the NABRE translation. For example In the RSVCE version of Tobit 6 it seems that the fish is trying to swallow Tobias whole but in the NABRE it says that the fish was trying to swallow Tobias’ foot. There are a few other differences that I’ve noticed so far. Does anyone know why this is?

Thanks
 
Jerome81 said:
Does anyone know why the book of Tobit is so different In the NABRE. I usually read the RSV2CE but I bought the ‘fathers of the church bible’ which uses the NABRE translation. For example In the RSVCE version of Tobit 6 it seems that the fish is trying to swallow Tobias whole but in the NABRE it says that the fish warying to swallow Tobias’ foot. There are a few other differences that I’ve noticed so far. Does anyone know why this is?

Thanks
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Lots of "discrepancies " are really choices of the translator. Most translators will not come up with the same translation as the other guy.different codices can be used different languages of the different codices can make things tricky.
My son translates Spanish to Chinese and Chinese to Spanish. He says a translator cannot translate word for word in any language. Most word for word translations would be intelligible to most people. So a translator is acting as an interpreter .the translators influence the interpretation.
One translator may believe that the phrase used may encompass thewhole person being swallowed while to another translator may see the words as meaning a part of the body, the foot being a logical jump.
I believe the American Bible society may have a site explaining how difficult translating scripture is.
 
Thanks for the reply. I do understand that scripture is very difficult to translate from the original languages but with Tobit it seems to be more than that. The first few verses from Tobit 5 for example are so different in the NABRE. Are the translators possibly translating from a different manuscript or something?

TOBIT 5:1-8 RSVCE
Then Tobias answered him, “Father, I will do everything that you have commanded me; 2 but how can I obtain the money when I do not know the man?” 3 Then Tobit gave him the receipt, and said to him, “Find a man to go with you and I will pay him wages as long as I live; and go and get the money.” 4 So he went to look for a man; and he found Raphael, who was an angel, 5 but Tobias did not know it. Tobias said to him, “Can you go with me to Rages in Media? Are you acquainted with that region?” 6 The angel replied, “I will go with you; I am familiar with the way, and I have stayed with our brother Gabael.” 7 Then Tobias said to him, “Wait for me, and I shall tell my father.” 8 And he said to him, “Go, and do not delay.” So he went in and said to his father, “I have found some one to go with me.” He said, “Call him to me, so that I may learn to what tribe he belongs, and whether he is a reliable man to go with you.”

Tobit 5:1-3 NABRE
Then Tobiah replied to his father Tobit: “Everything that you have commanded me, father, I shall do. 2But how will I be able to get that money from him, since he does not know me, and I do not know him? What sign can I give him so that he will recognize and trust me, and give me the money? I do not even know the roads to Media, in order to go there.” 3Tobit answered his son Tobiah: “He gave me his bond,* and I gave him mine; I divided his into two parts, and each of us took one part; I put one part with the money. It is twenty years since I deposited that money! So, son, find yourself a trustworthy person who will make the journey with you, and we will give him wages when you return; but bring back that money from Gabael while I am still alive.”
 
I have just found out that there were fragments of Aramaic and Hebrew copies of Tobit found at Qumran. Maybe that has something to do with it?
 
It really comes down to a difference in the version used. The RSV uses the shorter Greek version attested in most manuscripts, the NAB uses the longer version now thought to be closer to the original. (The Douai-Rheims uses the Vulgate Tobit, which is a version in its own right.) In other words, Tobit exists in many different versions.

I went into more detail about this at another thread a while ago.
 
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