And all who had made any vow to God began to offer sacrifices to God, from the new moon of the seventh month …: This verse indicates that religious ceremonies requiring only an altar began as early as the seventh month, even though work on the Temple building had not begun. Verse 47 does not say that work on the altar began on the first day of the month, but that is the implication. We do not know how long it may have taken to get the altar ready for use, only that it was being used by the fifteenth day of the month, when the Festival of Shelters began. This verse, however, seems to imply that voluntary sacrifices made to fulfil individual vows (as opposed to sacrifices required by the Law for certain times) began as early as the first day of the month. The problem is even stronger in the parallel passage of Ezra 3.6, where it is said that burnt offerings were made on the first day of the seventh month. The Greek text can be interpreted in such a way (by changing the punctuation) as to eliminate the problem: it can mean that anyone who had made a special vow to God since the first day of the month was able to fulfil the vow by making the sacrifice after the normal sacrificial procedure was set up. Since the author specifically mentions votive sacrifices here rather than the burnt offerings of Ezra 3.6, it is quite possible that this is his attempt to resolve the difficulty in the Ezra text. If so, translators should allow him to do so, and we suggest this sense in our first model below. Translators who distrust this solution may follow Good News Bible‘s model (so also second model below, which is based on Contemporary English Version).

All who had made any vow to God refers to people who made a strong promise to God to bring an offering to him (see, for example, Lev 7.16 and Num 15.3). This clause may be rendered “All those who had made strong [or, sacred/special] promises to God.” From the first new moon of the seventh month may be translated simply “on the first day of the seventh month” (Good News Bible).

Though the temple of God was not yet built: Some languages may prefer to begin the verse with this clause (so Good News Bible).

Here are two possible models for this verse:

• People who had made special promises to God since the first day of the seventh month then began to offer their sacrifices, even though God’s Temple had not yet been rebuilt.

• The people had not yet rebuilt the Temple. But from that day, the first day of the seventh month, all those people who made special promises to God offered their sacrifices on the altar.

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.