For what good is it to us, if an eternal age has been promised to us, but we have done deeds that bring death?: Once again the connector For may be left implied (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). What has been promised is the possibility of eternal life (an eternal age). Death here is eternal death. The rhetorical question asked here is repeated in different words in every verse through verse 125. The models suggested for this and the following verses represent various ways of expressing the basic question. The forms are interchangeable, and translators should feel free to search their own languages for several different ways to come at this. Some may even think that use of the same form in each verse is effective. Contemporary English Version uses strong statements for most of them; for example, here it has “So what if we are promised a life that never ends—the sins we have committed will bring only death.” Other possible models are:

• We have been promised eternal life, but what good is that promise if our deeds guarantee [eternal] death?

• What good is it for us, if God has promised us eternal life, but we have done things that cause us to die eternally?

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.