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 Ruth 4:2

The Hebrew text of verse 2 begins “and he took ten men of the elders of the city.” Since, however, Elimelech’s nearest relative is the subject of the last sentence of verse 1, it is normally important to mark the shift of actors so that Boaz should be introduced as the subject of the first sentence of verse 2. The fact that this action by Boaz is subsequent to the preceding should be marked by some kind of transitional device such as Then, “And next,” or “Immediately afterwards.”

Certain problems are involved in translating the verb got, which represents in Hebrew a verb often translated as “took.” One should not imagine that Boaz had to go through the town in order to find or select ten of the town’s elders; what he no doubt did was to ask ten of the town’s elders to stop as they were going in or out of the town gate. In many languages an appropriate translation would be “and Boaz caused ten of the town elders to stop” or “Boaz asked ten of the town elders to remain.” It is also possible to use an expression such as “selected” or “picked out” (cf. New American Bible), but this might imply too formal an activity.

The leaders mentioned in this context would have been the heads of leading families, who formed the aristocracy of the town. As local authorities they were largely responsible for legal matters (see Deut 25.7; 1 Kgs 21.8-14). See also R. de Vaux, op. cit., I, pages 108-109, 212-213. There would certainly have been more than ten elders in Bethlehem, though the exact number is not known. A town such as Sukkoth had seventy-seven elders, according to Judges 8.14. In finding an appropriate term for “elders,” it is important not to use a word which merely means “older men,” though in many societies the older men are the leaders of the town. A more natural expression in many languages is “ten important men in the town,” “ten of the leaders in the town,” or “ten of the men in the town to whom people showed respect.”

The direct discourse employing an imperative expression, as in the Hebrew, “… said, ‘Sit down here,’ ” might seem to be rather impolite in some languages. For that reason Good News Translation introduces indirect discourse, asked them to sit down, which may seem more natural in such a setting. If direct discourse is used, the imperative force of the request may be somewhat altered by the use of some particle showing proper politeness, equivalent to “please” in English: “please sit down here.”

When they were seated translates what is literally in Hebrew “and they sat down.” If an independent clause is used, it should be observed that their sitting down is a result of Boaz’s request, and therefore it must be rendered as “so they sat down” or “hence they sat down.”

Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .