(4) So reflects the fact that verse 4 is a result of the terrible deeds of verse 3. Making the last part of verse 3 connected with verse 4 is also possible: “Because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron, I will send fire…” (New American Bible; compare Jerusalem Bible [Jerusalem Bible]). Whatever is done to express this relationship should fit in with the same relationship also shown between the parts of verse 3, as already discussed.

Send a fire/send fire refers to the burning which goes along with defeat by a foreign army, in this case by the Lord. The battle of which the fire is a part is mentioned directly in the punishment of Ammon (1.14) and Moab (2.2). Sometimes fire has been translated “fires of war” (Moffatt). Send is picture language for “make/cause (fire) to burn.”

The house of Hazael/the palace built by King Hazael. Because of the parallel between Hazael and Benhadad, this Hebrew expression could mean “the royal family of Hazael,” which in turn could be taken as “the kingdom of Syria.” In the same way the fortresses of King Benhadad could mean the town of Damascus.

On the other hand, it may be better to take house literally, as the exact parallel word in the next line is a Hebrew word translated fortresses. Also, the expression I will send fire occurs in all the other messages of this section except the one against Israel, and the fire always burns a building. A translation “on the house (palace) of King Hazael” is therefore better.

Make sure that the palace built by King Hazael and the fortresses of King Benhadad do not sound like different places. In languages where parallelism or the grammatical construction does not make it clear that they are the same, some additional restructuring may do it: “the royal palace of Syria, with its fortresses defended by King Benhadad” or “the royal palace … among the fortresses…” or “the royal palace…, that is, the fortresses of King Benhadad.”

Devour/burn down. The Hebrew idiom of “fire that eats (up) something” occurs frequently and can be carried over naturally into many languages. In other cases, the translation will have to have another picture or translate the meaning burn.

Strongholds/fortresses translates one of the most important parts of the meaning of the Hebrew word (New American Bible: “castles”). Unfortunately, such buildings are not known in many parts of the world so this meaning cannot always be made clear in translation. Sometimes a more general word has to be used in this context, and the nearest equivalent which is present in some languages may be the word for “chief’s compound” or “chief’s house.”

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 .