The number of them refers to the list or the inventory of objects that were given to Sheshbazzar to take back for the Temple in Jerusalem. They included basins, censers, bowls, and miscellaneous vessels. The Hebrew words for these vessels are hapax legomena (see “Translating Ezra and Nehemiah,” page 22); that is, they are words that are found only here, and it is uncertain what they mean. For example, censers in Revised Standard Version is translated “knives” in some translations, following the Vulgate (so New Revised Standard Version, Bible en français courant, Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports a reading with vowels that give the meaning “altered” or “changed” vessels with a C rating and is the basis for the translation “repaired” in others (New Jerusalem Bible). Since it is uncertain what kind of vessel is meant, the translation of Good News Translation “other bowls” is recommended. The terms used in the Revised Standard Version translation are the traditional ones. Other translations distinguish the objects by size and shape; for example, “plates” (Chouraqui) or “large dishes” (Contemporary English Version) for basins, “pans” (Chouraqui, New International Version) for censers, and “cups” (Nouvelle version Segond révisée) for bowls. The types of vessels in the Temple are known from other passages such as 2 Kgs 25.14-15.

The quantity of items listed in Revised Standard Version is different from the quantity given in Good News Translation. There seems to have been a corruption in the text in its transmission. Various amendments have been suggested for reading the Hebrew text, but no solution has been found for the difference between the number of vessels listed in these verses and the sum total given in the next verse. Revised Standard Version has followed the Greek 1 Esdras with a thousand basins of gold in place of “thirty gold basins” and two thousand four hundred and ten bowls of silver in place of “four hundred and ten other [or, spare] silver bowls” with a total of “five thousand four hundred and sixty-nine” in order to solve the problem, but the different numbers found in 1 Esdras were probably an attempt to correct the problem in the Hebrew text. Translators should follow the Hebrew text as Good News Translation has done (also New International Version, Revised English Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). This is supported by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project with a B rating.

Translators must decide how the inventory will be presented in the text and how the numbers will be written. Everything can be written out fully as Revised Standard Version has done, or the list can be set in two columns as in Good News Translation with the quantities presented in numeral form, or the translator may list the items and after each item place the numeral (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). A format that is consistent with what is used by translators for lists in other books of the Bible should be used here.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .