Now therefore weigh in a balance our iniquities and those of the inhabitants of the world: Now therefore introduces a conclusion. Good News Bible says “Now then.” In this sentence Ezra uses the image of a balance scale, in which an object to be weighed is placed on one side and measured against a known weight on the other. Ezra challenges God to put Israel’s sins on one side and those of the other nations on the other side, and see whose sins are heavier (compare Job 31.6; Psa 62.9).

And so it will be found which way the turn of the scale will incline: If God does this, it will be clear that the sins of the rest of the world are heavier.

Good News Bible provides a helpful model for this verse. However, translators who find the imagery of the balance scale too difficult may find Contemporary English Version more useful. It abandons the metaphor as follows:

• Compare our sins to those of foreigners, and you will see that foreigners are much more wicked.

In Babylonia it was the Jews who were the foreigners. Ezra was in exile with them there as he prays. So it would be better to say “other nations” instead of “foreigners.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.