Such spirits shall not enter into habitations, but shall immediately wander about in torments, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways: For habitations see the comments on “chambers” in 2 Esd 4.35. Unlike the righteous, who will have a place to rest until the judgment, the wicked will have no resting place, but must wander about in constant dread of what will happen to them at the judgment. This idea is found in rabbinic literature. Oesterley (page 88) quotes Midrash Rabba on Eccl 3.2: “the souls of the pious, as well as those of the ungodly, will ascend into the height; only (with this difference) that the former are placed in the treasury, while the latter are tossed about on earth.” Box (page 588) refers to a passage in the Talmud, Shabbat 152b: “the souls of the wicked are said to be given no place of rest until the Judgement, while the souls of the righteous are given their resting-place … soon after death.”

The author uses the term ways in referring to the stages in the grieving of the ungodly (verses 81-87), but uses a different word, “orders,” in describing the seven stages of happiness the righteous progress through after death (verses 92-98). In our model for this verse and for verse 91 we will maintain a distinction by using two words, “steps” for the wicked and “stages” for the righteous. However, we will not repeat these words at each step or stage. If translators use the same term for both, they are doing no harm to the meaning of the text. If they can find only one appropriate term for the progressive “stages” of torment or bliss, they should use that one only.

Here is an alternative model for verse 80:

• These souls will have no place to rest. As soon as they leave the body, they must wander about in torment, grief, and sorrow. Their grief will progress in seven steps:….

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.