Verses 57-62 form one long sentence in Revised Standard Version. Good News Bible and Contemporary English Version break it up into several sentences, which other languages may find helpful.

It is he who searches the deep and its treasures, who has measured the sea and its contents: Compare Job 38.16. In Pro 8.27-29 and Sir 24.5-6 Wisdom is pictured as being with God in the creation of the oceans. The verb searches does not imply that God is looking for something in the deepest part of the sea, but rather that he examines it. Being God, he is in a position to know what the sea contains. The Latin word for the deep refers to “the abyss,” the waters that existed before creation and upon which the earth rests (see the comments on 2 Esd 3.18, where it is rendered “the depths”). For practical purposes, however, translators can speak of “the deepest part of the sea [or, ocean].” The verb measured may be translated “assigned limits to.” This is essentially what the next verse says, but measuring the contents of the sea is a very difficult concept to grasp. An alternative model for this verse is:

• He knows all the wonderful things that are in the deepest part of the sea. He assigned the sea its place, and gave a place to everything in the sea.

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.