And Darius sent with them a thousand horsemen: The conjunction And may be omitted (so Good News Bible). For King Darius of Persia, see the comments on 1 Esd 2.30. The pronoun them refers to the Jews returning from exile. A thousand horsemen refers to soldiers on horseback. They were the “escort” referred to in 1 Esd 4.47 (compare Neh 2.9).

To take them back to Jerusalem in safety may be rendered “to protect them as they traveled to Jerusalem.” An alternative model for this clause and the previous one is “King Darius sent a thousand horse soldiers to protect the Jews as they traveled to Jerusalem.”

With the music of drums and flutes: It is not clear whether this music was played by musicians in the Jewish caravan going to Jerusalem or whether it was done by a farewell party of fellow Jews in Babylon seeing the travelers on their way. We suggest the latter option (see our model below). Drums are a percussion instrument. At that time a drum was made of an animal skin stretched over a shallow circular, triangular, or square frame. Flutes are wind instruments. A flute consisted of a tube with a series of finger holes used to alter the tone.

And all their brethren were making merry certainly refers to the Jewish population of Babylon who remained there. They celebrated as their fellow Jews left for Jerusalem.

And he made them go up with them means Darius made the horse soldiers go to Jerusalem with the Jews who were returning. This sentence repeats information in verse 2, and does not need to be repeated.

The material in verses 2-3 can be condensed by combining them as follows:

• [King] Darius sent them off on their way to Jerusalem with a thousand soldiers on horseback to protect them on the way. As they left Babylon, the rest of the Jews were in a joyful mood, playing flutes and beating on drums.

• King Darius ordered a thousand horse soldiers to accompany the Jews and protect them as they traveled to Jerusalem. As they were leaving Babylon….

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.