# Commentary on James Word Study – Elders > *Elders* (Jas 5:14) - *Presbyteros* (Gk.): an \"elder\", \"elderly man\", or \"presbyter\". The word is used 66 times in the NT. It has its primary background in the OT and Jewish tradition, where \"elders\" (Heb., *zeqenim*) referred to the tribal leaders of Israel appointed by Moses (Ex 24:1; Num 11:16) and to the members of a city\'s judicial council (Josh 20:4). By the first century, it was a collective name for Pharisaic teachers (Mt 15:2), for a group within the Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:3), and for the senior officials of a Jewish synagogue. This notion of ruling and religious elders carried over into Christian tradition and was applied to its own appointed leaders (Acts 14:23; 15:2; 20:17; 21:18). An \"elder\" or \"presbyter\" thus came to refer to an ordained shepherd of the Church who preached the gospel and administered the sacraments (1 Tim 5:17; Tit 1:5; Jas 5:14). The English word \"priest\" is derived from this Greek term. --- > Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, *The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament*, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010).