For if the farmer’s seed does not come up, because it has not received thy rain in due season, or if it has been ruined by too much rain, it perishes: Here Ezra is putting the responsibility for the farmer’s crop on God, who gives or withholds the rain. The Revised Standard Version footnote on this verse may be ignored, since the textual correction made by Revised Standard Version is almost certainly correct. The conjunction For may be omitted (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). Contemporary English Version provides the following helpful model for this verse:

• The seeds the farmer planted may not grow because you stopped the rain from falling. Or maybe there was too much rain, and they rotted in the ground.

Another possible model is:

• If the farmer’s seed doesn’t even sprout [or, come up], it’s because you have sent not enough rain, or maybe too much rain.

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.