If you have just a few precious stones, will you add to them lead and clay?: The phrase If you have may be rendered “Suppose you have.” Just a few precious stones is stressing that there are only a few of them, but they are very beautiful ones. So we may render the first half of this verse as “Suppose you have some jewels—not many, but very fine [or, beautiful] ones” or “Suppose you have only a few jewels, but they are very beautiful ones.” Will you add to them lead and clay may be translated “Will you have any more if you set lumps of lead and clay down among them?” or “Will you add pieces of lead and clay to have more?” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Lead is a very heavy metal, and clay is a kind of earth that can easily be made into different shapes when it is wet. Both are very common. The Latin text of this verse is very difficult, and the ancient versions are not much help (see the Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible footnotes), although the general meaning is pretty clear. We believe that Good News Bible (following New English Bible‘s interpretation) has the most convincing approach to the verse, and in the model below we work with it:

• Suppose you have some jewels—not many, but very fine ones. Will you have any more if you set lumps of lead and clay down among them?”*
* The Latin of this verse is unclear.

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.