For the first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome: The conjunction For may be left implied (so Good News Bible). Good News Bible renders the first Adam as “The first man, Adam,” which is a helpful model. For the imagery of the evil heart, see the previous verse. Burdened with an evil heart may be translated “had to live with the tendency to do evil” or simply “had the tendency to sin.” Transgressed may be rendered “sinned” (Good News Bible). Was overcome means Adam was defeated by his own evil inclination.

As were also all who were descended from him means all of Adam’s descendants were defeated by their sinful inclination also.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• The first man, Adam, had to live with that tendency to do evil, and he sinned. The evil tendency defeated him, and all of his descendants as well.

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.