And will reproach them to their face with their evil thoughts and the torments with which they are to be tortured (which were symbolized by the flames): Reproach them to their face may be rendered “remind them” (Contemporary English Version) or “confront them” (Good News Bible). The torments with which they are to be tortured refers to the tortures that they will face. The flames represents their evil thoughts and the torments. For the flames, see verses 10-11.

And will destroy them without effort by the law (which was symbolized by the fire): For the fire, see verses 10-11. The fire refers back to the law, not to God’s Son destroying his enemies, just as the flames refers back to both their evil thoughts and the torments. A textual correction of some kind is necessary here, since the Latin for and will destroy them without effort by the law reads “and he will destroy them and the law without effort” (see the Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible footnotes). Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible follow the Syriac. If the Syriac text is correct, then the Latin word for “law,” which is legem, should read lege. But there are difficulties with this solution. First, it makes the law parallel to their evil thoughts and the torments, each being symbolized by fire in some way, and to “their ungodliness” (verse 37), represented by the storm of sparks. This clashes badly. Second, there is good reason to think the word “law” is not original, since the Ethiopic reads “with sin,” and the other ancient versions (Arabic and Armenian) omit the words by the law (which was symbolized by the fire) altogether. All this suggests the problem lay in the Greek translation from which the other ancient translations were made. Violet (1924, page 183) presents a solution that is convincing to us. If the original Hebrew text had said “because of their lawlessness” and was so translated into Greek as di’ anomian, a very slight misreading of the Greek could produce dia nomou (“through the law”). This accounts for the Ethiopic text as well as the Syriac and Latin. It also explains the omission of the phrase in some Latin manuscripts as well as the Arabic and Armenian versions, since the scribes could simply have omitted a phrase which made no sense to them in the Greek. Therefore we recommend adopting Violet’s conjecture. The following model of this verse, part of which derives from Contemporary English Version, employs Violet’s solution:

• He also will remind them of [or, confront them with] all their evil thoughts and will tell them of the tortures that they must face. These are what the flames in your dream symbolized. Then he will destroy them without any effort [or, easily] because of their wickedness. This is what the storm symbolized.

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.