Praising the Lord and blessing him: To “bless” God means to give him honor as God (see the comments on 1 Esd 4.40).

According to the directions of David king of Israel: King David had given the priests and Levites responsibilities in the worship liturgy (see 1 Chr 16.4-7; 25.1-6). This phrase is literally “according to David king of Israel.” The noun directions is not in the Greek text. The Hebrew text in the parallel passage of Ezra 3.10 says literally “at the hand of David king of Israel.” Here Good News Bible has “according to the instructions handed down from the time of King David,” and Contemporary English Version says “All of them followed the instructions given them years before by King David.” These are good models, and appealing ones, but we may also simply follow the Revised Standard Version here, since it is less complicated.

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• They were praising the Lord, honoring him in the way that King David of Israel had commanded.

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.