(1-2) The LORD says … punish them. See 1.3. Since the message is addressed d tod* Israel, and is not simply d aboutd* Israel (as the previous messages were about the other peoples), the use of the people of Israel and them may cause misunderstanding in some languages. It may sometimes be necessary to translate so that God speaks directly here: “You people of Israel … I will punish you.” To do so brings up to verse 6 the change which the Hebrew makes in verse 10.

However, if some way can be found to continue the style of the previous messages, as though God were still talking about someone else, and then switch dramatically to the more direct form later, as the Hebrew does, this may be very effective in many languages. Good News Translation makes the switch in verse 9, one verse before the Hebrew. In some languages it might be best to bring it up even into the second part of verse 6. This would strongly emphasize that although the message begins the same way as the earlier ones, the implications for the hearers are not the same at all.

Wherever the change is made, special attention should be given to the way in which it is made, with special emphasis in its wording. For example: “you, my people, sell honest men into slavery…” or “and you, the people of Israel, have sinned again and again.”

(3) The third part of the message to Israel, containing the specific illustrations of Israel’s crimes, starts with the familiar because they, with the crimes introduced in the usual way in the Hebrew grammar (2.6b), but there the similarity ends. Interwoven are social crimes and the fact that these are also crimes against God. The way in which these are organized may be seen in the Appendix, Section 3.1.

That the crimes against people are also crimes against God must be clear in the translation.
Because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes (Hebrew: sandals) /They sell into slavery honest men who cannot pay their debts, poor men who cannot repay even the price of a pair of sandals. The Hebrew does not say who (in Israel) did the selling, which causes difficulty for translating into many languages. How this is decided depends on how the rest of the passage is understood. Did the same people sell the righteous as sold the needy, or did judges sell the righteous (by taking bribes) and creditors sell the “needy” into slavery to recover their debts?

It does not seem likely that different people are doing the selling in the two cases, or even that one general group such as the corrupt upper classes are here divided into judges and creditors. It certainly is also unlikely that the same verb to sell should have been used once as picture language (for bribery) and once with its regular meaning. So there are two possible solutions: the ones who did the selling are either judges or creditors in both cases.

The easiest way of understanding the passage seems to be with the meaning of creditors. With it goes natural use of sell in both cases. Furthermore, the same people carry on into verse 7, and the rich can be understood as acting in both verses. Finally, it is not necessary to take righteous in a legal sense (compare Moffatt: “honest folk”).

In Hebrew the emphasis is first on the righteous, and then on a pair of sandals. So the point is first that for rich creditors money has more value than the personal qualifications of people, and second that even people who need help are victims for insignificant reasons. Translations of this passage should express a lot more of these meanings than they normally do. To sell has to be qualified as “to sell into slavery” or “to sell as slaves,” and the meaning of “for money” and “for a pair of sandals” has to be stated clearly. Good News Translation has done many of these things well, but who cannot repay even the price of a pair of sandals does not completely show that selling into slavery is the result of not repaying. Another way might be “because they can’t pay back the small sum they owe for a pair of sandals.”

A pair of sandals will have to be translated as “two sandals for two feet,” or some other idiomatic way, in some languages.

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 .