Most scholars understand winter houses and summer houses to mean that rich people had separate homes in different climates. In many areas of the world winter houses and summer houses will make little sense. “House for the rainy season” and “house for the dry season” will not help, either, if such things do not exist. Sometimes the best equivalent is “town houses” and “country (village) houses” or “village houses” and “field houses.” The emphasis, of course, is not on the kind of house but on the widespread destruction. Where no suitable distinction can be made, translate simply “I will destroy their big houses and their little houses” or “their brick houses and their thatch houses.”

Houses of ivory/houses decorated with ivory. Houses of ivory does not mean “houses built with ivory.” In Hebrew ivory is “(elephants’) teeth,” and such an expression will be the usual one in many languages.

And the great houses shall come to an end/every large house will be destroyed. The meaning of “many houses will be destroyed” (see Smith-Goodspeed, Moffatt, New American Bible; marginal reading Revised Standard Version) is also possible in Hebrew. “Large houses” would be adding some information, whereas “many houses” would summarize what was said before. The translation “many houses” is better because it underlines the thoroughness of the destruction which is a main theme of this paragraph.

Shall come to an end/will be destroyed. Other possibilities: “be demolished” (New English Bible), “be no more” (New American Bible). God is the one doing the action: “I will destroy.”

Says the LORD has been omitted in Good News Translation since the speaker has already been identified in the beginning of the paragraph (verse 13). (See 1.5.) In many languages an equivalent of the Hebrew will be necessary or helpful, especially because it is Amos, and not God, who continues speaking in the next paragraph.

However, in Amos this phrase coming at the end of messages does more than indicate the speaker. It indicates the end of a message and the authority of that message (see 1.5; 2.3,16). Some translations emphasize this purpose by a statement such as “This is the very word of the Lord” (New English Bible), “It is the Lord who is speaking” (compare Jerusalem Bible).

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 .