He answered me and said may be rendered simply “He replied” (Contemporary English Version) or “He answered” (see the comments on verses 1-2).

Go and ask a woman who is with child if, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the child within her any longer: The phrase a woman who is with child refers to “a pregnant woman” (Good News Bible). Some languages say idiomatically “a woman with a stomach.” Here Uriel is not seriously suggesting that Ezra find a pregnant woman and ask her if she can delay the birth of her child after nine months. It is really a question addressed to Ezra himself, and Good News Bible well translates it so. Another possible model for this verse is:

• His answer was, “Can a pregnant woman keep her child from being born after she has carried it for nine months?”

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.