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 Susanna 1:41

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 13.41.

The assembly believed them, because they were elders of the people and judges: There is some confusion of pronouns in the Revised Standard Version here, which Good News Translation avoids by reversing these clauses as follows: “Because the two men [they] were not only leaders in the community but also judges, the people believed their story [them].” The Greek word for assembly is usually translated “synagogue” in other places. In the Septuagint version of Susanna, this word is used to refer to a building, but here it refers to the gathering of Jews who have come to hear the case against Susanna. The word of the respected men is accepted without question; there is no cross-examination of the witnesses as provided for in rabbinic law or by Deut 19.15-20. Witnesses could not judge cases, and since in this situation, the witnesses were judges, someone else has to pass judgment. We would expect another judge to do it, but the guilty verdict is passed by the people who had gathered to hear the case. Once again we wonder where the husband is. He never appears to defend his wife, nor does she protest her innocence to him, or appeal to him for help. New Jerusalem Bible provides a helpful model here, saying “Since they were elders of the people and judges, the assembly accepted their word.”

They condemned her to death may be expressed as “They [the people] agreed that Susanna should be put to death” or “… agreed that they [unknown agents] should execute Susanna.”

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.