But if you will let seven days more pass—do not fast during them, however: Compare 2 Esd 5.13, 20; 6.31, 35. The command here not to fast (but to eat only plant food according to the next verse) may indicate that Ezra is moving from a state of mourning to one of consolation, from lack of food to ample provision. Good News Bible does well to remind the reader that God is speaking to Ezra by beginning with “And now, Ezra….” We may also say “God continued, ‘And now, Ezra….’ ” If you will let seven days more pass is a conditional clause, but Good News Bible does well to translate it as a command. Good News Bible may serve as a model for this verse, and so also Contemporary English Version, which says:

• Ezra, wait seven days, but this time you don’t have to go without eating.*
* wait seven more days … go without eating: In 5.13 and 6.31, Ezra had been told to go without eating while he waited seven days.

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.