And bountiful, because he would rather give than take away: For the implied idea at the beginning of this verse, see the comments on verse 133. Good News Bible makes it explicit by beginning with “He is known as.” As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, the last part of this verse is ambiguous. We feel that the translation offered there as an alternative is rather unlikely; the real ambiguity we see is between the meanings take away and “demand” (Good News Bible, Revised English Bible, Violet). These two senses are not really that far apart, looking at the same action from two different viewpoints, so a footnote is not necessary. We suggest using Good News Bible as a model, but another possible one is:

• He is also known as generous because he prefers to give rather than to take away.

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.