Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets/The Sovereign LORD never does anything without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets. As has already been shown, verse 7 is a secondary element in which the relationship between the second question of verse 6 (unless the LORD sends it) and verse 8 (who can keep from proclaiming his message) has been made clear. The way in which this verse connects or links should be clear in the translation. That is the intention of “No more does” (Jerusalem Bible); “For” (New English Bible). Other possibilities in English would include “Neither does,” “No, nor does.”
Lord GOD (Hebrew: my master, Yahweh)/Sovereign LORD. In many languages it makes no sense to combine words for Lord and God. The phrase “my master, Yahweh” makes sense in Hebrew because “Yahweh” is the personal name for God. But in translating this into most languages the meaning would come out something like “my master, the Lord,” which simply says much the same thing twice and is not really different from LORD except perhaps for being a bit more emphatic. To translate as “LORD” alone is certainly correct, and often the best solution. In some languages the Hebrew name of “Yahweh” is used in combinations like this (spelled, of course, in a way that is natural for the language of the translation). This gives a translation along the lines of “my Lord, Yahweh” or “Yahweh, who is my Lord.”
The Hebrew vocabulary of this sentence is rather theological and technical. Although it will be good to maintain this kind and level of language in translations where it is appropriate to the reader, sometimes such a statement as revealing his plan is impossible. In many languages “without telling his servants the prophets” (Moffatt) would be better.
Servants in connection with prophets is a standard Old Testament combination which occurs frequently in other prophetic and historical writings. Just as the king has high-ranking officers in his service, so does the Lord: his officers are his prophets. In this context it is the status of the prophet, not the act of serving, that is being emphasized. Where languages have distinctive terms for servant according to what they do or their social position it may be easy to select an appropriate equivalent term. In other languages it is necessary to translate as “ones-who-work-for-him,” “helpers,” etc.
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 .