You, the fourth that has come, have conquered all the beasts that have gone before: Rome conquered all rivals and overcame all challenges to its power.

And you have held sway over the world with much terror, and over all the earth with grievous oppression; and for so long you have dwelt on the earth with deceit: You have held sway and you have dwelt may be combined by saying “During your entire rule” (Contemporary English Version) or even “During the entire time that you have ruled.” Terror may be translated “great fear.” Grievous oppression may be expressed as “with great cruelty.” It is possible to consider the problem raised in Revised Standard Version‘s textual footnote on verse 40 as a translational problem, and this is how we will deal with it, so no footnote is necessary. This verse may be rendered as follows:

• You are the fourth beast [or, animal] that has come. And you have conquered all the animals that came before you. All the time that you ruled, you caused people to be terribly afraid [or, to have great fear]. You oppressed them cruelly, and treated them deceitfully.

And you have judged the earth may be rendered “You have imposed your law on the world” or “You have forced the people of the world to obey your law.”

But not with truth may be translated “but not justly [or, fairly].”

Good News Bible may serve as a model for verses 40-41, but another possible one is:

• 40 Yes, you are the fourth animal to come, and you have conquered all those that came before you. You have used terror to establish your power. You have oppressed the people [you ruled] cruelly, and treated them deceitfully as long as you have been in power. 41 You have imposed your law on the world [or, You have forced the world to obey your law], but it was not a fair [or, just] law.

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.