18They did as she told them: they shut the doors of the garden and went out by the side doors to bring what they had been commanded; they did not see the elders because they were hiding.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated into English as “garden” is translated into Naskapi with a word that means “a place for things to grow.”
Doug Lockhart (in Word Alive 2013 ) explains: “‘Garden’ was another term that had no Naskapi equivalent. ‘There are no gardens here,’ Bill [Jancewicz, a translation consultant] explains. ‘So what word do you use for ‘Garden of Eden,’ and have it communicate something logical in Naskapi? We finally came up with a word that means ‘a place for things to grow,’ like a park.'”
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).
They did as she said: Good News Translation omits this as redundant, since the text goes on to say just what the servants did. This redundant clause is not necessarily hurtful, however.
Shut the garden doors: The Greek verb for shut here is slightly different from the verb in verse 17, but the servants are doing precisely as Susanna told them. In verse 17 Good News Translation simply has “gates” for garden gates, but here it says “main gates,” since here a distinction must be made between those that are shut tight and those that the servants use to go into the house.
Went out by the side doors: The entrance into the house from the garden seems to be in view here. New Jerusalem Bible expresses this well: “going back to the house by a side entrance.” Contemporary English Version has “went into the house through the side gate.” See the comments on verse 4. Revised Standard Version has the plural side doors as in the Greek text. The writer is probably thinking of double doors, that is, an opening with a hinged door on each side, meeting in the middle. Good News Translation has the singular “side door” because in idiomatic English a person would speak of going “out the door” even if there is a double door. The construction of the doors is irrelevant here. The important point is that a side entrance is used.
Because they were hidden: Good News Translation omits this clause as unnecessary after having told the reader in verse 16 that the two men were hiding. The author probably intends the repeated statement to reinforce the suspenseful scene. What is going to happen when the servants leave? Will the men see Susanna undress? We aren’t told the answer to that, but not being told probably heightens the interest by appealing to the curiosity.
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.
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