Yet the elders of the Jews were dealt with kindly: The contrastive conjunction Yet (“But” in Good News Bible) introduces the unexpected idea that the Persian officials treated the Jewish leaders kindly. The elders of the Jews refers to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the other leaders of the Jews. Were dealt with kindly means that the royal officials were not harsh with the Jews, which is made clearer in the parallel passage of Ezra 5.5 than the Greek makes it here. We may render this clause as “But the government officials treated the Jewish leaders kindly” or “… did not treat the Jewish leaders harshly.”

For the providence of the Lord was over the captives: The providence of the Lord is literally “the looking over by the Lord,” which refers to the Lord’s watchful care. Because of the protection of God, the investigation by the Persian officials did not stop the work on the Temple (see 1 Esdras 6.6). The captives refers to the Jews as a people who had once been captives, and the reader should not be misled into thinking the people still are prisoners. The Greek expression for the captives is literally “the captivity,” which does not refer directly to the people. Contemporary English Version provides a helpful model for this clause, saying “because he was looking after the Jews who had come back from being exiles.”

Here are possible models for this verse:

• But the government officials treated the Jewish leaders kindly, because the Lord was protecting his people who had been in exile [or, who had returned from Babylonia].

• But the Lord was protecting his people who had been in exile, so the government officials did not treat the Jewish leaders harshly.

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.