If integrated into the book of Daniel: 13.50.

Then all the people returned in haste “to the place of judgment” (verse 49). If the translator has worded verse 49 in such a way as not to refer to a place, it will have to be specified here that they returned to some certain place, such as the house mentioned in verse 28. New English Bible neglects this by simply saying “So the people all hurried back.” Back where? Good News Translation explains with “So all the people hurried back to where the trial had taken place.” Contemporary English Version has “Everyone rushed back to the place where the trial was held.” We could translate all the people as “the whole crowd” with some justification, so this first clause may be rendered “So the whole crowd rushed back to the place where the two men had brought the case against Susanna.”

The elders: These are obviously not the two men who have consistently been referred to as “elders” earlier in this book (for example, verses 18 and 27). Not every translation is careful to make the distinction. Good News Translation “the officials” avoids the confusion by avoiding the term. New English Bible has “the rest of the elders.” Moore translates “the presiding elders,” and Contemporary English Version has “the group of leaders,” or we may say “the group of elderly leaders.”

Come, sit among us: The respected elders would conduct their deliberations while sitting. The young Daniel is being invited to take a place of honor, sitting among them (compare Luke 2.46). Good News Translation “come and join us” does not provide a mental image of sitting, but conveys the essential point, especially since it has been preceded by “God has given you wisdom beyond your years.”

Inform us means “tell us why you think these men were lying.”

God has given you that right is literally “God has given you the eldership.” Hence Good News Translation has “God has given you wisdom beyond your years.” New English Bible and New Revised Standard Version translate “God has given you the standing of an elder.” Contemporary English Version has “God has chosen you to be a leader,” and New Jerusalem Bible expresses it as “God has given you the gifts that elders have.” New American Bible takes a somewhat different approach: “God has given you the prestige of old age.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• So the whole crowd rushed back to the place where the two men had brought the case against Susanna, and the group of elderly leaders said to Daniel, “Come and sit down here with us, and tell us why you think these men are lying. It is obvious to us that God has chosen you to be a leader.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.