And the holy work prospered: Once again the Greek word for work is plural, but translators will probably not want to use the same phrase for the holy work as in the previous verse (see our model below). The verb prospered indicates that the work was being done successfully.

While the prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied: See the comments on 1 Esd 6.1. Here the verb prophesied means that Haggai and Zechariah were encouraging the people by conveying God’s message to them. New English Bible renders this clause as “With the encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah,” and Good News Bible is similar with “encouraged by the prophets….” These models capture the meaning quite well.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• All this work for God went very well, and as it went on [or, as the people worked] the prophets Haggai and Zechariah gave their support [or, encouragement].

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.