OET interlinear EZRA 5:16

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-time-sequential

אֱדַ֨יִן֙

then

The elders use the word then to indicate that the event they will now describe came after the events they have just described. In your translation, you can use the expression in your language that would best indicate this relationship.

שֵׁשְׁבַּצַּ֣ר דֵּ֔ךְ אֲתָ֗א

Shēshəbaʦʦar this came

The implication is that he came here, that is, from the perspective of the elders who are speaking, he came to Jerusalem. Alternate translation: “that man named Sheshbazzar came here”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

יְהַ֧ב אֻשַּׁיָּ֛⁠א

laid foundations,the

Sheshbazzar did not do the work himself. If it would be helpful in your language, you could refer to others who did the work, as in the UST.

וּ⁠מִן־אֱדַ֧יִן וְ⁠עַד־כְּעַ֛ן מִתְבְּנֵ֖א וְ⁠לָ֥א שְׁלִֽם

and=from then and=unto now under_construction and,not finished

In several places the book uses the terms built and complete together to mean “constructed.” (Review the note about this at 5:11 if that would be helpful.) But this expression means something different here. Because there is a not before the second verb, here the expression means that the temple was only partially rebuilt, and then the work was interrupted. Be sure that your translation shows this difference. Alternate translation: “And ever since then, we have been trying to rebuild the temple, but we still have much work to do on it”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

מִתְבְּנֵ֖א וְ⁠לָ֥א שְׁלִֽם

under_construction and,not finished

If it would be helpful in your language, you could say this with an active form, and you could say who did the action. Alternate translation: “we have been trying to rebuild the temple, but we still have much work to do on it”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks

וְ⁠לָ֥א שְׁלִֽם

and,not finished

Here the letter ends its quotation of what the Jewish elders told Tattenai and his associates. If you decided in 5:11 to mark their words as a secondary quotation, you should indicate that ending here with a closing secondary quotation mark or with whatever other punctuation or convention your language uses to indicate the end of a quotation within a quotation.