Infants a year old shall speak with their voices, and women with child shall give birth to premature children at three or four months, and these shall live and dance: These are not good omens, but bad ones. In light of 2 Esd 5.51-55, they show that the world is so near its end that the human life span is dramatically shortened. In most languages will speak with their voices may be rendered simply “will speak [or, talk].” The verb translated dance appears to be a Greek verb put into Latin form; it means “to leap, go bounding about.” Good News Bible renders it “run about,” which is closer to its meaning than dance; it does not imply dancing to music. We suggest the following models for this verse:

• Babies a year old will talk, and babies born after only three or four months in their mothers’ wombs will live and run about.

• … and women will give birth after only three or four months, and their babies will live, and run around.

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.