And in all Judea they mourned for Josiah may be rendered “People all over Judah mourned for King Josiah.”

Jeremiah the prophet lamented for Josiah probably means “The prophet Jeremiah composed a lament for King Josiah” (Good News Bible), that is, he wrote a poem that could be sung as a song of mourning. Contemporary English Version says “Jeremiah the prophet wrote a funeral song in honor of him.”

And the principal men, with the women, have made lamentation for him to this day; it was ordained that this should always be done throughout the whole nation of Israel: The phrase the principal men, with the women is almost certainly the result of the author misreading the parallel passage of 2 Chr 35.25, which says “all the singing men and singing women,” but we must work with the text as it stands, since if this is an error, it was made by the author, and not by a scribe copying a manuscript. Revised Standard Version‘s footnote on the women is correct; the Greek expression here could refer to the wives of the principal men, and probably does. We recommend Good News Bible‘s model, which follows this interpretation by rendering the last half of this verse as follows: “It has become a custom in Israel for the leaders and their wives to sing this song when they mourn for him.” Contemporary English Version is similar with “and it is still a custom in Israel for important men and their wives to sing sad songs about Josiah as they mourn his death.” Good News Bible assumes that the lamentation made for Josiah until the author’s day was specifically the song of mourning composed by Jeremiah. Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 10.5.1) says that this lament was still being sung in his own day (first century A.D.). We recommend that translators follow Good News Bible as a model here, changing only the phrase “in Israel” to “throughout Israel” to express better the idea in throughout the whole nation of Israel.

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.