Even the leaders of the people and of the priests committed many acts of sacrilege and lawlessness beyond all the unclean deeds of all the nations: Not only King Zedekiah, but also the leaders of the people of Judah and even the priests sinned against the Lord. The Greek verb rendered committed … acts of sacrilege refers to treating holy matters as worthless and common. We may say “did more godless … things” (Good News Bible), “did many things that broke the sacred taboos,” or even “did many things that insulted the Lord.” The Greek verb for committed … lawlessness refers to any breaking of laws, but here the text focuses on breaking those laws in the Torah that concern ethical conduct rather than ritual matters. Beyond all the unclean deeds of all the nations may be expressed as “worse than all the disgusting things that the people of other nations did” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

And polluted the temple of the Lord which had been hallowed in Jerusalem: Polluted is the opposite of hallowed. God had been made the Temple holy (that is, he made it his own house), but the sins of the priests and people had undone this, making the Temple no longer sacred ground. This clause may be translated “God had made his Temple taboo [or, his own], but they made it unclean and unfit for worshiping him” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

An alternative model for this verse is:

• The leaders of the people, and even the priests, broke the Lord’s laws and did many things that were irreverent [or, insulting to him]. They did even more filthy [or, disgusting] things than the people of all the other nations. They corrupted [or, defiled/polluted/made bad taboo] the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem that God had made holy.

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.