Then King Darius commanded that search be made in the royal archives that were deposited in Babylon may be rendered “Then King Darius ordered his people to search the government records that were kept [or, stored] in Babylon.”

And in Ecbatana, the fortress which is in the country of Media: Good News Bible renders the conjunction And as “however,” since the orders were given to search for a copy of Cyrus’ decree in Babylon but it was actually found in Ecbatana. The Persian emperors stayed in Babylon in the winter, in Susa in the spring, and in Ecbatana in the summer. Ecbatana served as their official summer residence. It was located in mountainous terrain at the foot of Mount Alvend about 450 kilometers (280 miles) northeast of Babylon. This is the present-day site of Hamadan in Iran, which is about halfway between Teheran and Baghdad. Fortress translates a fairly rare Greek word that can refer to a palace (Greek of Psa 45.8) or a capital city (Greek of Dan 8.2). We recommend “capital city” in this context. For the country of Media, see the comments on 1 Esd 3.1.

A scroll was found in which this was recorded: This clause introduces Cyrus’ decree, which is quoted in verses 24-26. The Revised Standard Version footnote here indicates that some Greek manuscripts have “passage” instead of scroll. The two Greek words involved are similar; we prefer scroll and see no need to have a footnote. A scroll was a book made out of pages of specially prepared leather parchment or papyrus sewn or glued together in a long strip that was then rolled up. In areas where scrolls are unknown, translators may say “rolled book” or “rolled leather with writing on it,” or they may borrow a term from a trade language with a footnote or item in the glossary explaining what a scroll is. It will also be useful for them to include a picture of a scroll. For languages that cannot use passive verbs here, this clause may be rendered “the king’s searchers found the following scroll on which were these words.”

Here are possible models for this verse:

• Then King Darius ordered a search to be made in the government records kept in Babylon. But they found what they were looking for in Ecbatana, the capital city of Media. It was a scroll on which these words were recorded:….

• Then King Darius ordered his people to search in the government records that were kept in Babylon. However, they found this information [or, Cyrus’ decree] in a scroll in Ecbatana, the capital city of Media. They found the following words:….

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.