This story is about a beautiful Jewish woman named Susanna who lived in Babylon. When two judges falsely accuse her of being unfaithful to her husband, Daniel as a wise young judge is able to prove her innocence.

The Masoretic Text of Daniel contains the twelve chapters that are translated as the book of Daniel in Jewish and Protestant Bibles. The Greek Old Testament, however, contains two additional chapters, besides the long addition to chapter 3. These chapters constitute part of the canonical Daniel in the Orthodox churches. They were translated into Latin, and became part of the Vulgate. They are part of the canonical Daniel in other Catholic Bibles as well. The Catholic Bible numbers the story of Susanna as chapter 13. The Orthodox Bible begins the book of Daniel with the story of Susanna; this is its position in Theodotion’s Greek text (see the paragraph below). Protestant Bibles include Susanna as a separate book of the Apocrypha, consisting of one chapter.

The name of Daniel (meaning “God has judged” in Hebrew) was associated in Semitic folklore and legend with judgment. A Daniel or Danel appears in Ugaritic literature as a king renowned for fairness in judgment (compare Ezek 28.3). As noted above, Daniel appears in Susanna as a young man, wise in judgment. It may be because Daniel appears in Susanna as a youth that this story precedes the rest of the book of Daniel in Theodotion’s Greek text. This Handbook and all translations follow the Greek text of Theodotion for the additions to Daniel, rather than the Septuagint. The Septuagint text of Susanna is much shorter than Theodotion’s text, and quite different.
It is not known when or where the story of Susanna was written. The action takes place among the exiled Jews in Babylonia, but the writing was surely much later. Scholarly opinions range from sometime in the Persian period (sixth to fifth centuries B.C.) to sometime just preceding the translation of Daniel into Greek, around 100 B.C. The story could well be older than the writing of it. Most scholars think the story was written in Palestine, but opinions are based on general impressions rather than hard evidence.

The book has been interpreted in various ways: (a) as a Jewish story that takes as a point of departure the story of two adulterous prophets in Jer 29.21-23; (b) as an attack by the Pharisees against the legal practices of the Sadducees; (c) as a folk tale; and (d) as a martyr legend. J. R. Busto Saiz has a unique approach, which has much to commend it. It accounts for some puzzling features. He presents the story as an encoded, apocalyptic appeal to the Jews to be faithful in spite of persecution. The two elders who appear as friends of Susanna’s family, as seducers, and as accusers, represent Antiochus IV and his predecessor Seleucus IV, who had at one time been friends of the Jews, who had “seduced” the Jews by crossing Palestine several times to go to battle with the Ptolemies, and who were their persecutors (accusers). The appearance of Daniel (meaning “God has judged”) shows that God will judge. Susanna is of course the Jewish people, who prefer death to infidelity. This explains the strange fact that Susanna’s father and husband are mere names in the story, not characters; it is the names that are important. She is the daughter of “the Lord’s heritage” (Hilkiah) and wife of “the Lord establishes” (Joakim). Busto Saiz assumes that the story would have been told with an accompanying oral explanation. This interpretation accounts for the addition of Susanna to Daniel, a book of apocalyptic themes.

There is really no hard evidence for the original language of the story. In verses 54-55 and 58-59, wordplays appear that are based on Greek. This has long supported the idea that the book was written in Greek, but opinion today favors an original in either Aramaic or Hebrew since the Greek occasionally reflects Semitic idiom (see the comments on verses 15-16.) Scholars believe the wordplays in Greek are an attempt by the Greek translator to reproduce the wordplays in the original language.
Susanna is a beautifully crafted short story. The main challenge to the translator is to convey the liveliness, interest, and suspense of the tale. It is only 64 verses long. Before beginning work, translators should read it for enjoyment and get a feel for it, so as to develop a consistent narrative approach.

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.