And there is nothing unrighteous in her judgment: When judgments are made, a judge who is reliable never renders an unjust, unreliable decision. You can count on the fairness of the judgment. The pronoun her refers to “reliability.” It will be difficult in most languages to talk about “reliability” doing something. If so, this clause may be rendered “When a reliable judge makes a decision, it is always reliable.”
To her belongs the strength and the kingship and the power and the majesty of all the ages: Anything that has strength is strong because it can be relied upon. Kingship is strong only insofar as the king is firm and dependable. (This is a subtle hint that Zerubbabel is making to the king. Strong kings have to be dependable.) We suggest the following renderings for this sentence: “Anything that is strong, anything that is powerful, anything that is great, even kingship itself, gets its strength and power from its reliability. This is a principle that lasts forever [or, is always true]” and “Things that are strong, things that are powerful, things that are great, even kings themselves, must be reliable. That is where they get their strength and power from. This is an eternal principle.”
Blessed be the God of truth!: This is the climactic statement with which Zerubbabel ends his second speech. The mention of God (as we argue) is reserved for the very end. He has been talking all along not just about what is natural, but what has been determined by God. God of truth means two things: (1) God himself is dependable, and (2) God is the source of reliability, wherever it is found. The model below of this verse attempts to express these two ideas. When a human being speaks of God as Blessed, he or she is saying that God deserves praise, is worthy of our praise. Blessed be may be translated “Let us praise.”
An alternative model for this verse is:
• When a reliable judge makes a decision, it is always dependable. Anything that is strong, anything that is powerful, anything that is great, even kingship itself, gets its strength and power from its reliability. This is an eternal principle. Let us then praise God, who is always reliable, because reliability always comes from God.”
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.