And because thou dost give life to the body which is now fashioned in the womb, and dost furnish it with members, what thou hast created is preserved in fire and water: Let us simplify the syntax of this sentence as follows: You are the one who gives life to the fetus and makes it grow; that is the reason it survives. So it may be rendered simply “When the human body is first formed in a woman’s womb, you give it life and make it develop.” Furnish it with members refers to the development of arms and legs, as well as other specific body parts. No convincing explanation has been offered for the meaning of preserved in fire and water. We believe this is a figure of speech known as “merismus,” in which a whole is expressed by two extremes, so the meaning here is “preserved through all circumstances.” What thou hast created is preserved in fire and water may be rendered “That’s why it [the fetus] survives all kinds of difficulties” or “That’s why you keep it safe in all kinds of dangers.” Compare Psa 66.12.

And for nine months the womb which thou hast formed endures thy creation which has been created in it: This clause in Latin is quite difficult to understand. In the previous sentence the phrase what thou hast created translates the Latin words tua creatio. In this clause thy creation renders the Latin words tua creatura (nominative form; in the text the case is dative). Further, the womb which thou hast formed translates the Latin words tua plasmatio (literally “your workmanship” [see Revised Standard Version footnote])—the word womb does not appear. The Latin nouns creatio, creatura and plasmatio are all feminine. A final difficulty is that the Latin pronoun for it is not feminine, but either masculine or neuter. Unless this is simply a case of grammatical laxity (and a handful of Latin manuscripts do correct this pronoun to feminine), the neuter word body earlier in the verse is the only possible word it could refer to. In the first clause of the verse the body which is … fashioned translates the Latin words plasmatum corpus, literally “formed body.” We believe that in the last clause plasmatio does not refer to a womb, but to the “formed body” of the first clause. So the last clause of this verse may be rendered “For nine months the fetus undergoes your creative activity” or “For nine months you devote your attention to forming that [little] body.”

For this whole verse New English Bible has “The body moulded in the womb receives from you both life and limbs; that which you create is kept safe amid fire and water; for nine months the body moulded by you bears what you have created in it.” The last clause is unfortunately not clear, but we understand “the body moulded” in the first clause and “the body moulded” in the third clause to refer to the same thing: the fetus—not to the womb. We take “in it” to refer back to “the body moulded,” which is a satisfactory reading of the Latin pronoun here. This leaves the Latin verb patior rendered “bears.” This may simply refer to being the passive object of an action (indeed it is the origin of the word “passive”). The fetus is the passive object of God’s creative activity for nine months. This is how we arrive at the suggested model below.

Verse 8 is the first of a series of verses in which the course of a person’s life is described. Here the present tense is used in Revised Standard Version. In verses 10-12 the past tense is used, and in 13 the future is used. We suggest using one tense throughout these verses in order to avoid confusion. The writer is not so much speaking of actual time with regard to his own place in time, as simply changing his viewpoint. What Ezra describes is the way God deals with people from conception through death. Our models in these verses will use the present tense.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• When the human body is first formed in a woman’s womb, you give it life and make it develop. That is why it survives all kinds of difficulties. For nine months you devote your attention to forming that [little] body.

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.