What, then, will they have to say in the judgment, or how will they answer in the last times?: These two rhetorical questions express the same point in different words. Good News Bible may serve as a reliable model for this verse, or translators may render these questions as statements by saying:

• At the judgment they will not be able to offer any excuse. On that last day they will have no answer.

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.