But I will tell you a parable, Ezra: The conjunction But may be omitted (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). The Latin word for parable is literally “similitude” (King James Version), that is, “likeness” (see the comments on 2 Esd 4.47). Here it is better rendered “illustration” (Good News Bible). This clause may be rendered “Ezra, I will explain this with an illustration.”

Just as, when you ask the earth, it will tell you that it provides very much clay from which earthenware is made, but only a little dust from which gold comes; so is the course of the present world: Compare 2 Esd 7.55-56. The phrase Just as, when you may be rendered “If you” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version) or “Suppose you.” The Latin expression for earthenware refers to any kind of object made from clay, not only “pots” (Good News Bible). Jars and lamps are included, for instance. “Pots and other things” is a possible rendering. In languages that do not have the passive voice, from which earthenware is made may be translated “from which people make pots and other things.”

Good News Bible provides a reliable model for this verse. Another possibility, one based on Contemporary English Version, is:

• For example, Ezra, if you ask the earth, it will tell you that it produces a lot of clay to make pots and other objects. But this same earth has a very small amount of gold. That’s the way it is with this present world.

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.