For my son the Messiah shall be revealed with those who are with him: The conjunction For may be omitted (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). The pronoun my refers to God as in the previous verse. Instead of my son the Messiah, the Latin text reads “my son Jesus,” which is certainly a change made in the text by a Christian scribe. All the other ancient translations use the word “Messiah,” but there are at least four variants for the whole phrase, which are given in the Revised Standard Version footnote. My son the Messiah is the reading of the Syriac and one Arabic manuscript, and is the Latin text of verse 29. A further complication is the fact that either of two Greek nouns may lie behind the translation son. One of these nouns could translate the Hebrew word for “son,” but the other could just as easily translate the Hebrew word for “servant.” Scholars are divided on which may have been the original Hebrew, but the fact remains that in verse 29 the word “son” is used in all surviving versions. With that in view, we suggest following Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible here, translating, with two ancient versions, my son the Messiah. Messiah translates the Latin word christus, which translates the Greek word christos, the word used to express the Hebrew word for “Messiah.” Translators will do well here to use the term they have used for “Messiah” in John 1.41 and 4.25 (see also 2 Esd 12.32-34; 13.25-39, 52; 14.9). In this verse the Messiah is assumed already to exist (see the comments on 2 Esd 3.6). For those who are with him, compare 2 Esd 6.26 and 1 Thes 3.13.

And those who remain shall rejoice four hundred years: Those who remain are those delivered from the “evils” in verse 27. The Messianic kingdom is limited to a certain time period in several apocalyptic writings. Here it lasts for four hundred years, which may be a result of reading Psa 90.15 in the light of Gen 15.13. In Rev 20.2, 7 it is 1,000 years.

Here are alternative models for this verse:

• I will reveal my Son the Messiah* and those who will come with him. He will bring four hundred years of happiness to those who have survived [the calamities].
* Some ancient translations the Messiah; Latin Jesus.

• … He will cause those who have lived through all the calamities to live happily with him for four hundred years.

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.