And I said: Since a question follows this quote frame, it may be rendered “I asked” (Good News Bible).

How hast thou said to thy servant that thou wilt certainly give life at one time to thy creation?: This rhetorical question refers back to verse 42, where God implies that the resurrection from the dead will occur for all at the same time. With the phrase thy servant Ezra refers to himself. Good News Bible uses simply the pronoun “me,” but translators should keep Ezra’s deference here if possible. Thy creation refers to human beings. A possible model for this question is “Lord, why then did you just now tell me that one day you would bring back to life at the same time everyone who had ever lived?” (similarly Good News Bible). Contemporary English Version uses a statement, saying “But you told me that someday you will bring back to life at the same time everyone who has ever lived.”

If therefore all creatures will live at one time and the creation will sustain them, it might even now be able to support all of them present at one time: Ezra sees a contradiction between God’s response in verse 42 and that in verse 44. If there are too many human beings for the world to hold now, why will it be any different in the future, after the resurrection? All creatures refers to human beings, and the creation is the world. A possible model for this sentence is “If all humans that you have created will live together at the end time, and the world will support them all, why can’t the world right now support them all?” Translators should also study Good News Bible‘s shorter model.

For the textual problems noted by Revised Standard Version here, see the comments on the next verse.

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.