elder (of the community)

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated as “elders” in English is translated in the Danish Bibelen 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 German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates likewise as “leader of the people” (Anführer des Volkes).

Translation commentary on Judith 8:10

She sent her maid, who was in charge of all she possessed: This woman, though never named, will appear several times in the rest of the book as Judith’s companion. An unusual Greek word is translated maid; the word is actually an adjective (used here as a noun) meaning “pretty, graceful, delicate.” Enslin interprets this to mean “favorite slavegirl.” That the woman is a “slave” (Good News Translation) is not said at this point, but 16.23 makes it clear that she was, and it is not wrong to bring that information forward to this point. From the narrative we may gather that the woman was a slave, a trusted companion, and a business manager for Judith. Good News Translation shifts focus in describing her as one who “managed her business affairs.” The Greek literally reads “in charge of all her possessions” (compare Gen 24.2; 39.4).

To summon Chabris and Charmis, the elders of her city: Good News Translation is right in adding Uzziah to this verse, and proper in saying in the footnote that some manuscripts omit him. Uzziah is clearly present since he is named in 8.28 and 8.35. On the identity of the three men as elders, see the note on 7.23. For elders of her city, see 6.16.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Judith. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.