He wrote that land and wages should be provided for all who guarded the city: Guards were another group of people who, like the priests, could not do the actual physical work of rebuilding, since their job was to provide security for the rest of the citizens. Darius required that these men also be paid. An alternative model for this verse is:

• The men who guard the city while the work is going on should receive pay along with some land.

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.