And carried them to all the people: In Greek this clause concludes the last sentence of the previous verse, so it may be directly joined to verse 12, but we believe Good News Bible deals with it better by making it a separate sentence explaining more clearly what is happening. Good News Bible has “Then they [the Levites] distributed the meat to all the people.” The Levites did not just carry the meat to the people, but “distributed” it, so that the people could eat it.

Afterward they prepared the passover for themselves and for their brethren, the priests, the sons of Aaron may be rendered “Then they prepared the Passover meat for themselves and their relatives, the priests, the descendants of Aaron.” The Greek text does not have a direct object for the verb prepared. Revised Standard Version adds the implied idea of the passover.

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.