Therefore do not be afraid, and do not let your heart be terrified: These two clauses have the same meaning, so Good News Bible combines them by saying “So don’t be afraid,” and so does Contemporary English Version with “So, Ezra, stop being afraid!”

But go in and see the splendor and vastness of the building, as far as it is possible for your eyes to see it: Uriel invites Ezra inside the heavenly city, which is called the building here. He tells Ezra to inspect how beautiful (splendor) and huge (vastness) it was. He tells him to see as much as human eyes could see (as far as it is possible for your eyes to see it). We are left to suppose that Ezra does indeed enter the city. However, there is no description of what he sees there. Some things seen in visions cannot be expressed in words (see 2 Cor 12.4), and Ezra does not try. Anything experienced there is discreetly left out.

And afterward you will hear as much as your ears can hear refers to what Ezra will hear when he enters the city (perhaps the music, the loss of which is regretted in verse 22). Conceivably this clause could refer to what he will learn in future revelations, but we do not understand it that way. Just as Ezra’s eyes will not be able to take in fully all the splendor of the city, so his ears will not be able to take in all its marvelous sounds. The translation must not leave the impression that Ezra’s hearing is being improved.

An alternative model for verses 55-56 is:

• 55 “So go into the city. Don’t be afraid. Don’t worry. Look at its vast size, admire its splendor, as much as it is possible for your eyes to take it in. 56 Then you will also hear sounds that your ears have never heard.

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.