These are the signs which I am permitted to tell you: The demonstrative pronoun These refers to the end-time events mentioned in verses 1-12. For the signs, see the comments on 2 Esd 4.52. Here are possible renderings for this clause: “These are the signs of the end time which I am allowed to tell you about” and “That is all that God has allowed me to tell you about the signs of the end time.”

And if you pray again, and weep as you do now, and fast for seven days, you shall hear yet greater things than these: The instructions Uriel gives Ezra here will prepare him for his second vision in 2 Esd 5.21–6.34 (compare 2 Esd 6.31). Uriel says if you pray again, since Ezra’s first prayer was in chapter 3. For the idea of fast (that is, not eating food), see the comments on 1 Esd 8.50. Good News Bible renders and weep as you do now, and fast for seven days as “and continue to weep and fast for seven more days,” which is mistaken. Nothing has been said about Ezra weeping or fasting until this point. A better model for this whole verse is:

• These are the signs of the end time which I am allowed to tell you about. But if you pray again, weeping as you are now, and if you fast for seven days, you will hear about even greater things.”

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.