And thereafter the continual offerings and sacrifices on sabbaths and at new moons and at all the consecrated feasts: And thereafter may be rendered “After this” or even “After they had celebrated the Festival of Shelters.” This phrase implies that only after observing this festival did the observance of all the other celebrations in the religious calendar begin. The continual offerings refers only to “the normal daily sacrifices” (Good News Bible). It does not refer to the sacrifices on sabbaths and at new moons and at all the consecrated feasts; these sacrifices were in addition to the normal daily ones. In the parallel passage of Ezra 3.5 these daily sacrifices are called “the continual burnt offerings,” but they are not specified in this way here. The beginning of this verse may be rendered “After celebrating the Festival of Shelters, they began offering the normal daily sacrifices, as well as those required for the Sabbath….”

For God’s regulations concerning sacrifices on sabbaths, see Num 28.9-10. Sabbath is a Hebrew word meaning “rest” or “seven.” God rested on the seventh day after creating the world in six days. The sabbath is the Jewish day of rest, the seventh day of the week. Many languages transliterate this word (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible), but some translate it as “rest day.”

The new moons refers to the beginning of lunar months. On the first day of each lunar month the Jews had a special ceremony requiring certain sacrifices (see Num 28.11-15). Good News Bible calls it “the New Moon Festival.”

All the consecrated feasts refers to the annual festivals, which included the Passover, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Harvest Festival, the New Year Festival, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Shelters (see Lev 23.3-43; Num 28.16–29.39). Consecrated means these festivals were held to worship the Lord. Contemporary English Version renders this phrase as “all the other sacred festivals.”

Here is a possible model for this verse:

• After this they began offering the normal daily sacrifices, as well as those required for the Sabbath, the New Moon Festival, and the other religious holidays.

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.