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).
The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”
Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian” and in the 1964 translation by Helmut Riethmüller: “theologian of scriptures” (Schrifttheologe)
English translation by Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar
In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL , used with permission)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 6:12:
Uma: “From there, they incited the people with the leaders of the Yahudi and the teachers of religion, so that they were angry at Stefanus. They went and grabbed him and took him to the religious judges.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because of their lying, the people thought-mistakenly that what they said about Estepan was really true. Therefore the people and the elders and the teachers of the Yahudi religious law were angry with Estepan. They went (and) seized Estepan and brought him to the councilors to be judged.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore the elders and the teachers of the law got angry at Stephen, and they went to Stephen and seized him and brought him before the leaders.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “And that was what-made-the many-people, elders and teachers of the law -angry with Esteban. That being so, they went to arrest him and took him to the gathering-place of the leaders of the Jews.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “What those opposing Esteban really were doing was, they were putting it in the heads of the people, including the important tribal-chiefs and explainers of law, to oppose Esteban. Well, what else but they then arrested Esteban. They took him to the Sanedrin and caused him to stand in the presence of the leaders of the Judio.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
It is difficult to determine exactly the subjects of the verbs in this and the following verse. The subject of they stirred up may be either the men who argued with Stephen (v. 9) or the men who testified against him (v. 11); while the subject of they came to Stephen, seized him, and took him before the Council may be either of the above or else the people, the elders, and the teachers of the Law. The same three possibilities exist for the subject of they brought in some men to tell lies about him (v. 13). One logical solution to these complex problems is to suggest that the subjects of they bribed some men and of they stirred up the people are the same: that is, the men who argued with Stephen (v. 11); and that the subjects of the next series of verbs are the people, the elders, and the teachers of the Law. If this conclusion is accepted, then it was the men who disputed with Stephen who stirred up the people, the elders, and the teachers of the Law; and it was these, in turn, who seized him, and took him before the Council.
Stirred up may be rendered as “caused to be angry,” “caused to become excited,” or “caused to be fearful.” All of these emotions may occur in expressions denoting the process of stirring up a group of people.
In this context took him implies “leading by force.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
So: The Greek word here indicates a close/strong connection to the previous sentence. But it probably does not mean “therefore” here. (So in English can indicate a more general but close connection.) Here are some other ways to translate this word:
And likewise -or-
Also
they stirred up the people: Here the word they probably refers to the members of the “Synagogue of the Freedman” (6:9a–b).
stirred up: This phrase refers to causing people to be angry about something. Here they made people angry with Stephen.
the people: This phrase probably refers to people of Jerusalem, implying Jews who lived there.
elders: Here this word refers to respected leaders in the Jewish community. They were probably not religious leaders. See how you translated this word in 4:5.
scribes: This phrase refers to men who studied, interpreted, and taught the law of Moses. See how you translated this phrase in 4:5.
6:12b
They seized him: Here the word They probably refers to same people referred to by “they” in 6:12a.
seized: This word refers to forcefully grabbing someone. Here are some other ways to translate this word:
took hold of -or-
captured
Sanhedrin: This is the name of the Jewish ruling council. See how you translated it in 5:21.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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