14So the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished their building by command of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia,
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 Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Zechariah” is translated in Swiss-German Sign Language with a sign that depicts predicting the future.
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is transliterated as “Haggai” in English is translated in Swiss-German Sign Language with a sign that depicts the prophet pointing to God as his message to the people in Jerusalem.
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
This verse is a key verse in the story of the rebuilding of the Temple. The verse emphasizes a main theme in the book of Ezra, which is the building of the Temple, and the fact that they finished it. The reference to Haggai and Zechariah forms a kind of envelope or frame around the building of the Temple with the beginning in 5.1 and the completion here. The reference to Artaxerxes here also forms a frame with the earlier occurrence of his name marking the beginning of the Aramaic section (Ezra 4.7-8) and here signaling the end of the Aramaic section.
The elders of the Jews built and prospered: The phrase the elders of the Jews, or simply the elders, has occurred several times in relation to the work, first in Ezra 5.5, 9, then in 6.7, 8, and now here. The two verbs built and prospered are participles in the original text stating what the elders were doing. They were building and they were prospering, that is, their work was advancing. The Temple was being rebuilt successfully. The work of the Jewish community was first described as prospering in Ezra 5.8, and now again it prospered.
Through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo: See the comments on Ezra 5.1. The emphasis here is on the work being done by the people with the encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. To make the meaning clear translators may need to restructure this prepositional phrase. Good News Translation says “encouraged by…” (also Bible en français courant), while New English Bible says “As a result of the prophecies of….” An alternative restructuring would be to say “Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo spoke from God to them and this encouraged them and they successfully built….” Good News Translation has omitted the phrase the son of Iddo, but this should not be done.
They finished their building: The text is literally “they built and they finished.” The two verbs here are not near synonyms as is often found in the writing style of Aramaic and Hebrew. Here they are consecutive actions, the one leading into the other: first they built, and then they finished. The same verb is used here for “finish” as for finishing the walls of Jerusalem in Ezra 4.12 and finishing the structure of the Temple in 5.3. The repetition of this word draws attention to the fact that what their enemies tried to prevent and what the Persian officials questioned was successfully achieved. This may be translated “They completed the work of building.”
The writer of the narrative emphasizes that the work of rebuilding the Temple is accomplished by the command of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia God’s will is accomplished in history through human agencies. Both command and decree are the same word in the original text but in slightly different forms. Some commentators suggest that this is to distinguish between a divine command and a human one. God’s command has been made known through the prophets (Ezra 5.1). Decree is in the singular form, perhaps signifying, according to Eskanazi, that the command of the three kings is the same and corresponds to the will of God. For the last half of this verse, the rendering of Bible en français courant is a good model to follow: “they completed it according to the order of the God of Israel and the decrees of the emperors of Persia, [who were] Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes.”
Artaxerxes is probably mentioned because of the support he later gave to the Temple (Ezra 7.15-24, 27). New English Bible omits the name Artaxerxes and Osty-Trinquet encloses it in brackets because it was considered to have been an early addition to the Aramaic text before the Greek translation. However, Eskanazi suggests that the point of view of the book of Ezra may be that the Temple was not considered to be fully completed until the return of the vessels and its expansion in the time of Artaxerxes. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives the inclusion of the name an A rating and the name should be included by translators.
Although the text identifies only Artaxerxes as king of Persia, Good News Translation uses the plural “emperors of Persia” to refer to Cyrus and Darius also since they all were rulers of Persia in their separate times.
Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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