Therefore I told you to go into the field where there was no foundation of any building: Verse 53 is largely repetitious of verse 51, but the emphasis here is on the foundation, which was emphasized in verse 27. The connector Therefore may be omitted (so Good News Bible).

For no work of man’s building could endure in a place where the city of the Most High was to be revealed: The city of the Most High refers to the heavenly city. This whole clause may be rendered “because nothing done by humans could stand in the place where God Most High would show you his holy city” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Alternative models for verses 53-54 are:

• 53 I told you to go to a field where there was not even a foundation for a building [of any kind], 54 because no structure built by human beings could ever exist in a place where God Most High would reveal to you the heavenly city.

• … 54 because no structure that human beings had built could every exist in a place where….

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.