Many men have lost their minds because of women: Just as wine deprives people of good sense (1 Esd 3.20-23), a man can be so infatuated with a woman that he loses his good sense. The Greek expression for lost their minds refers to madness. Good News Bible says “are driven out of their minds” (similarly New English Bible), and Contemporary English Version has “have gone crazy.” Most languages will have an idiomatic expression for this idea.

And have become slaves because of them: It is not clear whether the speaker means become slaves in a literal or a metaphorical sense, but Good News Bible is surely wrong by translating this clause as “and others become slaves for the sake of a woman,” as if the man thinks, “I will become a slave for her sake.” Rather, the man becomes so poor from giving things to a woman that he is forced into slavery, or becomes a slave because of criminal activity (see verse 27) that he engages in to please her.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Women have caused many men to lose their minds or become slaves.

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.