After all these acts of Josiah: These acts refers to the events in verses 1-23. Good News Bible begins this verse with “After King Josiah had done all these things,” and Contemporary English Version has “Several years after Josiah had done these things.” Since his battle against the king of Egypt was the last event of his reign, we may say simply “At the end of Josiah’s reign.”

It happened that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, went to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates: It happened does not indicate a chance occurrence. Since Pharaoh was a title of the Egyptian king (not a proper name), it may be omitted in translation (so Good News Bible). The king of Egypt at this time was Neco, who was king of Egypt from 609 to 595 B.C. He is named in the parallel passage of 2 Chr 35.20. At that time he was allied with the Assyrians. He marched to the north through Judah in order to help Assyria by stopping the Babylonian army. Translators should include the information that Neco was going to fight the Babylonians. The Babylonian city of Carchemish was located on the west bank of the Euphrates River about 96 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of present-day city of Aleppo. We may render this whole clause as “The king of Egypt [and his army] set out for the city of Carchemish on the Euphrates River to attack the Babylonians.”

And Josiah went out against him means that Josiah led an army to challenge the Egyptian army as they went through his country. Since Judah and Assyria were enemies, Josiah went to turn back the Egyptian forces led by King Neco. Contemporary English Version renders this clause as “And Josiah led his troops north to meet the Egyptians in battle.”

The following models of this verse make clear a good deal of information that is only implied in the text, information that the author assumed his readers would know. The additions we suggest here are longer than usual, but we think they are necessary to explain what is happening:

• Here is how Josiah’s rule ended. The king of Egypt set out for the city of Carchemish on the Euphrates River to make war against the Babylonians. To do this he had to pass through Judah, and Josiah tried to stop him.

• After King Josiah had done all these things, the king of Egypt….

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.