Then I answered and said: In this verse Ezra is impatient with Uriel, and presses him for clearer answers. The verb answered is not appropriate here, since Uriel has not asked anything. He responds to what the angel has said by asking two questions, so this quote frame is better rendered “I then said” or “I then asked the angel.”

How long and when will these things be?: Revised Standard Version‘s footnote here points to an unclear part in the Latin text. It would be good to recognize this textual problem in a footnote. This question may be translated “How long will it be until these things happen?” or even “How long must we wait before these things happen?” (Contemporary English Version).

Why are our years few and evil?: In this context the Latin word for evil means “miserable” or “full of sorrow.” We may render this clause as one or two questions (see the model below). Like Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version has one question: “Why are our lives so short and miserable?”

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• I then said, “How long* will it be until these things happen? Why do we live so short a time? Why are our lives so miserable?”
* Some ancient translations: How long; Latin unclear.

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.