I answered and said: Ezra is really asking a question in verse 45, so this quote frame is better rendered “I asked the angel Uriel.” Ezra is very reluctant to press Uriel to reveal more, but as long as he has the chance, he is going to keep asking questions.

If I have found favor in your sight is a polite expression, an idiomatic way of saying “Please” (Good News Bible). In a number of languages translators can use the literal expression in Revised Standard Version. Another possible model is “If you don’t mind my asking you.”

And if it is possible may be translated “If you think I can understand” (Contemporary English Version).

And if I am worthy may be expressed as “and if you think I am worthy of learning this.”

Show me this also may be rendered “please tell me one more thing” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Whether more time is to come that has passed, or whether for us the greater part has gone is a very awkward way of saying “Is the future to be longer than the past, or has the greater part of history already gone by?” Contemporary English Version says “Is the time we have yet to wait for the end of time longer than the time we have already waited?”

We suggest the following model for verses 44-45:

• 44 I asked the angel Uriel, “If you don’t mind my asking, and if you think I can understand, and if you think I am worthy of learning this, 45 please tell me this one more thing: Is the future to be longer than the past, or has the greater part of history already gone by?

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.