I replied and said …: Here Ezra speaks to the earth, as Uriel had suggested in verse 54, although he does not say to the earth the things Uriel suggested in verses 55-56. If addressing the earth sounds strange, it may help to follow Good News Bible by placing the information that Ezra is addressing the earth in the quote frame rather than in Ezra’s own words: “Then I said to the earth…” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

O earth, what have you brought forth, if the mind is made out of the dust like the other created things!: Compare 2 Esd 4.12. New English Bible renders earth as “Mother Earth.” Ezra addresses the earth because the mind is made out of the dust, and the dust is the earth. If the mind is composed only of dust/earth, as are all other creations, it is nothing special, and there is no particular reason for it to exist. Ezra does not ask for information here, but wonders why the earth ever produced the mind. The Latin word translated brought forth is one used of a woman or female animal giving birth. The main problem in this verse is the meaning of the Latin word sensus, translated mind (“reason” in Good News Bible). Stone (page 232) suggests it means “consciousness,” although he uses “mind” in his translation. We suggest “human mind,” which seems to include the ideas of consciousness and rationality.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Then I said to the earth, “If the human mind is made of dust, like all other living things, why did you ever produce it?

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.