And judge: God is also called a judge because he makes decisions. He decides to pardon some people, rather than simply condemning the whole human race. The phrase “he is called” is implied here from verse 138. Good News Bible makes this phrase explicit by beginning verse 139 with “He is called judge,” which other languages may find helpful.

Because if he did not pardon those who were created by his word: In some languages translators may need to render those who were created by his word as “those whom he created when he spoke a word,” but in most languages they may simply say “those people he himself created.”

And blot out the multitude of their sins: The verbs pardon and blot out may be combined (see the model below). The multitude of their sins may be translated “the enormous amount of their sins” or “their many, many sins.” The Revised Standard Version footnote on sins concerns only a translational matter, interpreting a Latin word that is literally “contempts,” so a footnote is not needed.

There would probably be left only very few of the innumerable multitude may be expressed as “only a handful of all humans whom he created would be left” or simply “only a handful of the human race would be left.”

Here is an alternative model for these verses:

• 139 We also call him the judge, because if he did not pardon the many, many sins of the people he himself created, 140 only a handful of the human race would be left.”

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.