The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?/When a lion roars, who can keep from being afraid? When the Sovereign LORD speaks, who can keep from proclaiming his message? This is the conclusion to the series of questions and the order changes to condition-consequence as in the first question of verse 6. Again, the change helps to create a sense of climax. On ways of translating so that there will be a sense of climax in the translation, see the discussion of verse 6a.

The lion of verse 4 comes back in the first half of verse 8, but the theme is different. Instead of an animal-animal relationship, the picture now is of “animal” (a picture of the Lord–man relationship—a relationship lacking until now). It prepares the reader for the final question. It is true, of course, that the lion is not identical with the LORD. So the first question should be translated keeping in mind the discussion of lion and roars in the commentary on 1.2. On the other hand, the fact that when a lion roars and when the Sovereign LORD speaks are parallel, and the fact that within the book of Amos lion and roar are pictures for the Lord and his speaking, make for strong unity between the two parts of the verse.

Prophesy/proclaiming his message (see 2.12). For languages which require an indication of the speaker at the end of a major quotation, this may be one place for an expression such as “That is what Amos said,” “said Amos,” “He finished saying,” 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 .