I answered and said: At the beginning of this new subsection it will be better to say “I said to Uriel the angel” (Contemporary English Version).

This is my first and last word, that it would have been better if the earth had not produced Adam, or else, when it had produced him, had restrained him from sinning: Compare verses 62-69. Good News Bible offers a good model here. Contemporary English Version is also good with “I still believe what I told you before—it would have been much better if the world had not produced Adam, or at least if it had not given him the ability to sin.”

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.