And he said to me: In some languages this quote frame may be omitted (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version), since the angel is still speaking. Some languages may prefer to keep it by saying “The angel also said to me.”

You cannot understand the things with which you have grown up may be rendered “You can’t understand things that have been around you all your life [or, always been a part of your life].”

How then can your mind comprehend the way of the Most High?: For the Most High, see the comments on 2 Esd 3.3. Good News Bible provides a helpful model for this rhetorical question, saying “How then can your little mind understand the ways of God Most High?” An alternative model that uses a strong statement is “So there is no way you can understand how God who is above everything works in this world.”

And how can one who is already worn out by the corrupt world understand incorruption?: As the Revised Standard Version footnotes indicate, the meaning of this rhetorical question is not clear in Latin, and the ancient versions offer no help. New English Bible has “A man corrupted by the corrupt world can never know the way of the incorruptible,” and says that this reading is based on versions other than the Latin. Even with this reading it is not clear whether “the incorruptible” refers to that which is not corrupted, or to God, “the incorruptible one.” A possible model for this difficult text is “How can a person who lives only a short time in a world that will last only a short while understand something that will last forever?” A possible model that uses a strong statement “No one lives long in this world that lasts for a short time, so no one can understand something that lasts forever.”

Here is a possible model for verses 10-11a:

• 10 You can’t understand things that have been around you all your life; 11 why then do you think you can understand the ways of God Most High? You live a short while in a world that will last only a short while; how can you understand anything that lasts forever?”*
* You live … forever; the meaning of this sentence in Latin is unclear.

When I heard this, I fell on my face and said to him: As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, there is a textual problem with the Latin clause rendered I fell on my face, but we are safe in assuming Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible express the meaning correctly, so no footnote is necessary. I fell on my face probably means Ezra lay face down on the ground. The word fell does not mean that he tripped and fell, or that he was pushed over. Rather, he knelt down and stretched himself out on the ground. Often it was a voluntary act of submission and worship. But here Ezra did it out of despair and agony. In some languages where this act would not be understood, translators may say “I lay face down on the ground in agony” or “I got on my knees, and lay with my forehead to the ground out of despair.” A possible model for verses 11b-12a is:

• When I heard Uriel say this, I lay face downward on the ground out of despair, 12 and said to him….

It would be better for us not to be here than to come here and live in ungodliness, and to suffer and not understand why: Ezra says it would be better for him and his people not to exist than to suffer in this evil world where they suffer without knowing why. Live in ungodliness is literally “live among ungodly people.” Here are alternative models for verse 12b:

• “It would be better for us not to exist than to be here suffering in this world of ungodly people, but not understanding why we are suffering.”

• “Here we are among ungodly people. We are suffering, but don’t know why. We would be better off if we had never been born.”

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.