For out of a city, ten shall be left: Compare Amos 5.3; Matt 24.40-41. The conjunction For may be left implied (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). Contemporary English Version renders this clause as “Only ten people will survive in a city.”

And out of the field, two have hidden themselves in thick groves and clefts in the rocks: Compare Isa 2.10; Rev 6.15-16. The verb phrase shall be left is implied here from the previous clause. The field refers to areas outside of cities or villages, namely, “the countryside” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). Thick groves means “dense forests.” The Latin expression for clefts in the rocks does not exactly mean “caves” (Good News Bible), but it refers to fissures, places in huge rock formations where over time the rock has split (see Oba 3). However, “caves” is a good equivalent, and may be an easier translation to understand. Most English-speaking people certainly do not understand the phrase clefts in the rocks.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• There might be ten people left alive in a whole city, and out in the country [or, outside the cities], there might be several people here and there who have hidden themselves in dense forests or in caves.

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.