The woman who appeared to you a little while ago, whom you saw mourning and began to console—but you do not now see the form of a woman, but an established city has appeared to you: For the textual problem concerning an established city, see the comments on verse 27. Good News Bible and Contemporary English Version combine verses 42 and 43, but we prefer to combine verses 41 and 42 as follows:

• Right now you see a huge city. But before that [or, earlier] you saw a woman who was in mourning. You tried to comfort her.

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.