And they shall devour you and your cities, your land and your mountains: This image of the army devouring the cities, land, and mountains of Asia refers to leaving them in ruins. However, in some languages it will be more natural to render devour as “destroy.”

They shall burn with fire all your forests and your fruitful trees: Instead of burn with fire, Good News Bible has simply “burn up” for naturalness. The Latin expression for fruitful trees refers to any kind of tree that produces food; it could include nut trees and date palms as well as fruit trees (New English Bible). Good News Bible says “orchards,” which refers to trees that are planted to produce food, as opposed to wild trees. Some languages may have a better expression than “orchards,” since both cultivated and wild trees that produce food are in view here.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• This army will smash your cities and make your land and mountains empty wastelands. They will burn your forests and fruit trees to the ground [or, completely].

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.