And the land which you now see ruling shall be waste and untrodden, and men shall see it desolate: The land which you now see ruling refers to Babylonia in Ezra’s time, but the ancient readers of 2 Esdras would have understood the author to mean the Roman Empire. The Revised Standard Version footnote indicates that it follows an emended text for this verse. However, the Latin text makes sense, with a meaning very close to the emended text. New English Bible, for instance, follows the Latin text by saying “The country you now see governing the world will become a trackless desert, laid waste for all to see.” Another model based on the Latin is:

• The country that you now see governing the world will be a wasteland [or, desert], with no one living there or even traveling through it.

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.