Then I dismissed the thoughts with which I had been engaged: Stone (pages 311-312) rightly sees this verse as a turning point in the book. Ezra here not only dismissed the thoughts that he had just been worrying over in the last subsection, but in fact all of the questions that he had been asking in the first part of the book. This turning point is consistent with the change of scene, from Ezra’s bedroom to an open field (see the comments on verse 26). Beginning at 2 Esd 10.5, Ezra begins to present to the woman some of the same things he himself had been struggling to understand.

And turned to her: Ezra had looked to his right, but did not turn directly toward the woman until he questioned her.

Good News Bible provides a good model for verses 39-40. Contemporary English Version is also good, and we will present its model at the end of the discussion on verse 40.

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.