For lo. The Hebrew word is the same as for behold (see 2.13).

I will command/I will give the command. On the need to say to whom the command was given, see 6.11. Here again it is probably the enemy: “I will command the enemy and have/make/let them shake the people…”

And shake the house of Israel … as one shakes (Hebrew: as is shaken) with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall upon the earth/and shake the people of Israel like grain in a sieve. I will shake them … to remove all who are worthless. In order to translate meaningfully, one must decide what the picture is and with what it is being compared. The Hebrew word for sieve probably refers to a coarse type of sieve in which stones are kept while the grain passes through. The same type of sieve was also used by bricklayers, who separated the larger stones from the fine sand which they used for mortar. The picture used here could therefore be based on either grain or sand. It does not really matter which picture the translator chooses, since the important point is that not one of the stones gets through the sieve. They will all be caught and then discarded.

God is commanding the enemy to treat Israel like this: none of the sinners among the people of Israel will escape punishment, just as no stone gets through the sieve. It may be possible to translate “I will shake/sift the people of Israel like someone shakes sand (or: grain) in a sieve, through which not a single stone falls to the ground. I will shake/sift them to remove the bad people from among them.”

Among all the nations/among the nations. This phrase is difficult to make fit in a meaningful way. Probably the best solution is to translate something like “… when/as they (will) live among (other) nations….” This phrase could be related to “shake/sift” in either of the restructured sentences suggested above.

Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan & Smalley, William A. A Handbook on Amos. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1979. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .