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 Joshua 8:10

The following morning (Good News Translation in the morning means “the next morning”) the plan is put into operation: Joshua and the leaders of Israel lead the troops from the camp at Gilgal to the city of Ai (about 25 kilometers). For the leaders of Israel see 7.6. It should be noted that Good News Translation soldiers translates a Hebrew noun which Revised Standard Version and others translate “people.” But in a context such as this, “the people” are not all the individuals, men, women, and children, but the fighting men (New English Bible, New American Bible “the army”). Called … together (Revised Standard Version “mustered”) translates a Hebrew verb which has many meanings: here with soldiers as object, it means to group together in military fashion.

In order to avoid a misunderstanding, it may be necessary to state explicitly that the leaders of Israel were included in this group of fighting men: “the leaders of Israel and the fighting men” or “all the fighting men of Israel and their leaders.” Some languages will require explicit mention of the people’s response to Joshua’s call: “When they had all come together, he and the leaders of Israel led the fighting men to Ai.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .