He answered me and said: Contemporary English Version says simply “The Lord replied.”

Go and gather the people, and tell them not to seek you for forty days: Compare Exo 24.18, where Moses went up on the mountain for forty days, away from the people.

Translators may use Good News Bible as a model for this verse.

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.