Go and declare to my people their evil deeds, and to their children the iniquities which they have committed against me, so that they may tell their children’s children: Ezra is to tell all the Jewish people, whether young or old, of their sins, and he should do it in such a way that those living will not forget to pass God’s condemnation of sin on to their own descendants. Go and declare to may be rendered “Go and tell” or even “You must go….”

That the sins of their parents have increased in them means the current generation has committed worse sins than past generations committed.

For they have forgotten me and have offered sacrifices to strange gods: They have forgotten me means they have deliberately ignored God; it is not an accidental forgetting. Strange gods refers to any god other than the God of Israel. Good News Bible and Contemporary English Version say “foreign gods.”

Contemporary English Version provides the following helpful model for verses 5-6:

• 5 Ezra, go and remind the people of Israel of the wicked things they have done, and tell them to warn their children and grandchildren how my own people have sinned against me. 6 In fact, they have become more sinful than their ancestors, because they have stopped worshiping me and started offering sacrifices to foreign gods.

Another possible model is:

• 5 “Go tell my people about their sins. Let every generation from this time on know all the ways they have sinned against me. 6 Every generation is worse than the one before it. My people are no longer concerned about me. Instead, they are offering their sacrifices to the gods that other nations worship.

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.