The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated as “elders” in English is translated in the DanishBibelen 2020 as folkets ledere or “leaders of the people.”
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators, explains: “The term ‘elder’ turned out to pose a particularly thorny problem. In traditional bibles, you can find elders all of over the place and they never pose a problem for a translator, they are just always elders. But how to find a contemporary term for this semi-official, complex position? This may have been our longest-standing problem. A couple of times we thought we had the solution, and then implemented it throughout the texts, only to find out that it didn’t work. Like when we used city council or village council, depending on the context. In the end we felt that the texts didn’t work with such official terms, and throughout the years in the desert, these terms didn’t make much sense. Other suggestions were ‘the eldest and wisest’, ‘the respected citizens’, ‘the Israelites with a certain position in society’, ‘the elder council’ –- and let me point out that these terms sound better in Danish than in English (‘de fremtrædende borgere,’ ‘de mest fremtrædende israelitter,’ ‘alle israelitter med en vis position,’ ‘de ældste og de klogeste,’ ‘ældsterådet’). In the end we just said ‘leaders of the people.’ After a lot of hand-wringing, it turned out that we actually found a term that worked well. So, we had to give up conveying the fact that they were old, but the most important point is that they were community leaders.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
The Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates likewise as “leader of the people” (Anführer des Volkes).
The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”
Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 4:5:
Uma: “The next morning, the religious leaders, the leaders of the Yahudi people and the religious teachers, they all gathered in Yerusalem.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The next morning the council members gathered there in Awrusalam. They were the Yahudi leaders, the elders and the teachers of the law of the Yahudi religion.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The next morning, the teachers of the Law and the elders and other Jewish leaders gathered together in the town of Jerusalem.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The next day (lit. when it was light), the rulers, elders and teachers of God’s law gathered in Jerusalem.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When morning came, the leaders of the Jews gathered together, including the important tribal-chiefs and the explainers of the law in Jerusalem.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
In the Greek text the transition which marks this next episode is indicated by egeneto de (literally, “and it happened”). This is one of Luke’s favorite devices for marking a transition in an episode. However, this is quite unnecessary to represent literally in English and the Greek temporal transition the next day is the most satisfactory way of indicating the sequence of events.
The Jewish leaders probably refers to the chief priests as the leading members of the Jewish Council. The elders were respected laymen, of advanced age, who exercised various political and religious functions, particularly as judges. The teachers of the Law were the official teachers and interpreters of the Jewish Scriptures, and not merely secretaries, as the usual translation “scribes” might suggest.
In most languages there is no difficulty involved in selecting three terms for leaders, elders, and teachers. In some so-called primitive societies, however, this may represent some difficulty. “The leaders” are those that have the political power. These consist of the chief and his immediate assistants. The “elders” are the older men who serve as his counselors. The teachers of the Law is rendered in some languages as “the specialists in the Law,” implying a sort of professional status.
Since the reference to the Law is obviously to the Pentateuch, it is possible in some languages to add here “the Laws as given by Moses,” or at least to use the plural form “the Laws,” since in many languages a singular cannot be used as a general term to include a body of regulations.
In some languages it is not sufficient to say that these people gathered in Jerusalem. It is true that they had to come to Jerusalem, for some of them did not live within the city itself; but one must be somewhat more specific in certain instances, such as “came together in one place in Jerusalem.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
The next day: The next day refers to the day after the religious leaders had arrested Peter and John.
rulers: This word here refers to the high priest and the other priests who ruled the Jewish people. For example:
leading ⌊priests⌋ -or-
⌊religious⌋ leaders
elders: Here this word refers to respected leaders in the community. They were probably not religious leaders. They were generally older men.
In some cultures a term like “old men” may not imply that the men were leaders. If that is true in your language, you may need to use a different term. Here are some other ways to translate this word:
⌊other⌋ leaders -or-
important men -or-
leading men among the people
scribes: This phrase refers to men who studied, interpreted, and taught the law of Moses. The scribes original work was to copy the laws of Moses by hand.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
teachers of the Law of Moses (Contemporary English Version) -or-
teachers of religious law (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
experts on the law
assembled in Jerusalem: All of the leaders were probably already in Jerusalem and met in the meeting place for this group. Your translation should not indicate that they came from other towns for this meeting.
assembled: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as assembled indicates that they gathered together intentionally, rather than just meeting by chance. Probably the high priest summoned all of the other members of the Sanhedrin to assemble together, or it could have been a regularly scheduled meeting. Here are some other ways to translate this word:
met (New International Version) -or-
gathered (English Standard Version)
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