For behold …: The conjunction For may be omitted (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). The word behold places focus on the message that follows. It does not have anything to do with literally seeing. Good News Bible omits this word since English has no real equivalent for it here. Other languages will have such expressions as “Look” or “Pay attention.” “Listen to me” in the previous verse will express it adequately in most languages.

I sow my law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you: Once again the imagery of sowing seed and bearing fruit is used (compare 2 Esd 3.20; 8.6). The fruit of the Law is eternal life. I sow my law in you may be rendered “I am giving you my Law, like a farmer plants seed in the ground.” It shall bring forth fruit in you may be translated “It will grow in you” or even “Like that seed, the Law will grow in you.”

And you shall be glorified through it for ever: The word glorified is understood by Good News Bible as “crowning glory.” However, we feel that it refers to the entrance to heaven and eternal life. So a better model for this clause is “and because of it you will have life forever.”

God’s quoted words end here. What God says in verses 30-31 is not a quotation from anything in the Old Testament, but compare Deut 5.1; 6.4. An alternative model for this verse is:

• I am giving you my Law, like a farmer plants seed in the ground. Like the seed, the Law will grow in you, and because of it you will have life forever.’

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.