All the vessels were handed over, gold and silver, five thousand four hundred and sixty-nine: The number 5,469 is the total of the numbers given in verse 13. There is a problem with the total number of vessels in the parallel passage of Ezra 1.11, but there is none here, and the translator need not worry about the difference. If the passive verb were handed over presents a problem in a language, translators may use Good News Bible as a model here. The implied actor for this verse is Mithridates (see verse 12).

And they were carried back by Sheshbazzar with the returning exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem: The passive verb were carried back may be made active by making Sheshbazzar the subject (so Good News Bible). The returning exiles refers to those who had been taken from Judah to Babylonia and forced to live there for a long period of time. In this context Babylon refers to the country of “Babylonia” (Contemporary English Version; see the comments on 1 Esd 1.40).

Good News Bible provides a good model for verses 14-15. Contemporary English Version also provides this helpful model:

• 14 Altogether, there were five thousand four hundred sixty-nine of these gold and silver cups, bowls, and other items, 15 that Sheshbazzar took with him when he and the others returned to Jerusalem from Babylonia.

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.