Not one of the servants whom I have given you will perish: Compare John 17.12. The servants refers to God’s servants, the woman’s children. In this context the Latin verb for perish does not mean to die, but to be deprived of eternal salvation. Good News Bible says “be lost.”

For I will require them from among your number: Good News Bible misinterprets this clause. The Latin verb for require basically means “search.” The Lord is saying that none of the woman’s children, his servants, will be lost, because when the time comes he will know where to come looking for them: they will be among the Church’s children.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• None of my servants whom I have given you will ever be lost, because [at the end] I will come looking for your children.

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.