And from the land of the Assyrians an enemy in ambush shall beset them and destroy one of them, and fear and trembling shall come upon their army, and indecision upon their kings: Good News Bible, following New English Bible, may have the wrong interpretation for this verse, but it is hard to say. In Good News Bible a certain Carmonian soldier will be killed, and this will bring panic to the Persian kings. Most scholars think the enemy in ambush was a native Syrian who murdered King Odenathus in 267 A.D. Our following model of verse 33 follows this interpretation:

• Meanwhile, in Assyria a traitor will wait for the dragons [or, Arabs] and kill one of their kings. Then their army will panic and be afraid [or, shake with fear], and their kings will not know what to do.

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.