And I looked may be expressed as “Then I saw.”

And out of his wings there grew opposing wings: The Latin word for opposing stresses that these wings were different. They were different by being smaller. Contemporary English Version makes this clear by rendering this verse as “Then from each of the twelve large wings I saw smaller, weaker wings appear.” This is better than Good News Bible‘s “rival wings.”

But they became little, puny wings: The Latin word for puny stresses their small size. This clause may be translated “but these wings were small and weak.” According to verse 11, there were eight of these small wings. Six of these little wings will be the subject matter of verses 24-31. They apparently represent military leaders who challenged the power of the emperors, but were unable to succeed. The Latin text of verse 25 refers to these wings as subalares, which means “underwings.” Perhaps we are to imagine these little wings emerging from underneath the other wings.

The end of the discussion on the next verse gives a model for this one.

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.