If integrated into the book of Daniel: 13.31.

Revised Standard Version begins a new paragraph here as if a new subject were being introduced in Greek. However, the Greek text does not do this. What follows here is directly relevant to the preceding verses. Notice how Good News Translation, which has no paragraph break, has the narrative flow more smoothly. We recommend no break at this point.

Susanna was a woman of great refinement …: Revised Standard Version‘s translation describes Susanna’s manner, her deportment; it indicates that she is quietly dignified. The Greek word for refinement, however, does not convey quite that meaning. She is described as “delicate, feminine, soft.” New English Bible describes her as of “delicate feeling.” This fits in well with the following scene, where Susanna, to her humiliation, is unveiled, but the Greek word here really seems to describe her physical appearance more than her emotion. Good News Translation chooses an appropriate word with “graceful” (also New Jerusalem Bible). The word woman is not in the Greek, which reads literally “Susanna was very delicate and beautiful in appearance.”

Good News Translation joins this sentence with the next one by saying that Susanna’s grace and beauty was the reason the two men had her unveiled. The Greek does not say this, but it is a legitimate way of connecting the thoughts of the two verses, which we recommend. New American Bible connects them differently, saying “ Susanna, very delicate and beautiful, was veiled; but those wicked men….”

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.