Let us take an oath to the Lord about this: The Greek word for oath refers to a solemn promise, especially made one made to God or in God’s name. The phrase about this refers to the sin of intermarriage and may be rendered “Because of this [sin]” or simply “Now” (Good News Bible). This clause may be translated “Therefore we will solemnly promise the Lord” or “So we will make a strong promise to the Lord.”

That we will put away all our foreign wives, with their children means to send the foreign women and their children away from the Jewish community. Contemporary English Version uses the word “divorce” here, but this is not the formal divorce that is described in Deut 24.1. This is an unceremonious breaking of the marriage relationships that were considered to be unacceptable. The foreign wives were to be sent away and the ones to whom they had given birth as well. Translators should use an expression for put away that is equivalent in meaning to the Greek and that does not imply normal divorce proceedings.

As seems good to you and to all who obey the law of the Lord: In this matter of sending away foreign wives, Shecaniah seeks the approval of Ezra and others who obey God’s Law. This clause may be rendered “if you and all others who obey the Lord’s Law are in agreement with it.”

Good News Bible‘s model keeps the clauses in verses 93 and 94 in the same order as Revised Standard Version, thus not combining the verses, and some translators will wish to follow this order (see the first model below). It also possible to reverse the order of these verses (see the second model below). Here are possible models for verses 93-94:

• 93 So we will give the Lord our solemn promise that we will send our foreign [or, non-Jewish] wives and their children away from us, 94 if it seems to you and all others who obey the Lord’s Law that this is what we should do.

• 93-94 If it seems right to you and all others who obey the Lord’s Law, we will make a strong promise to the Lord that we will send away our foreign wives, and their children with them.

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.