And he said to me: The pronoun he refers to God, which translators may make explicit at the beginning of this new chapter.

At the beginning of the circle of the earth …: The uncertainty that Revised Standard Version‘s footnote speaks of here has to do with whether something is missing at the beginning of God’s words and whether At the beginning should read “Before.” Most scholars do not accept the additions. However, Stone (pages 142, 155-156), who knows as much about this book as anyone, does accept them. If accepted, God’s response to Ezra’s request in 2 Esd 5.56 begins like this: “A man [literally, a son of man] will begin [the visitation/judgment] but I [God] will end it myself. Before the circle of the earth existed….” In this reading the phrase “end it” does not refer to ending the world, but to ending the period of judgment. “A man” is probably some figure initiating a time of terrible trials. We recommend that translators follow the majority of scholars in reading only the Latin text. In this text God’s words begin with a grammatical problem. At the beginning of the circle of the earth is literally “The beginning of the earthly circle.” We understand this phrase to mean “As for the beginning of the world of the earth” (An American Translation). Other possible models are “Before I created the world” (similarly Contemporary English Version), “Here is what the world was like when I created it,” and even “Here is what the world’s beginning was like.”

Before the portals of the world were in place: The portals of the world are not specifically mentioned in Scripture. This phrase may refer to gates that open into heaven, so the whole clause may be rendered “before the gates of the world [that open into heaven] were put in place” or “before I put the doors of the world in place.” Or the portals of the world may refer to the foundations of the world (see Psa 18.15). We prefer the former understanding.

And before the assembled winds blew: The assembled winds refers to the winds assembling, getting together. This clause may be translated “before the winds came together to blow” (similarly Good News Bible).

A model for verses 1-6 is given at the end of the discussion on verse 6. These verses form one long sentence in the Latin text, which some languages will prefer to break into several sentences.

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.