Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened (Hebrew: Burn/ make go up in smoke what is leavened as a thank offering)/ offer your bread in thanksgiving to God. To burn something does not usually mean a sacrifice or an offering in other languages. Neither is burning the main point here, so in translation a more general term such as offer, “bring,” or “give” is usually better. Leavened here stands for bread, of which it is one characteristic. There is no emphasis on the leavening, which should not be used in translation if bread is used instead. Where languages have no specific word for bread or use a loan word for a western kind of bread, a general word for “food” should be used (compare New American Bible: “leavened food”).

The “thank offering” is a sacrifice that is offered in thankfulness for one reason or another. Possible translation: “bring your food as a gift to express your thankfulness (or: to thank God).”

Freewill offerings/extra offerings. These are like the “thank offering” in that they are not required but are given when the worshiper wants to give them. Possible translations: “voluntary offerings” (Smith-Goodspeed), “spontaneous offerings,” “offerings/gifts brought out of your own free will,” or extra offerings.

And proclaim … publish/brag about. As is clear from This is the kind of thing you love to do, the emphasis is on the “worshiper’s” attempt to impress other people rather than to obey God. This meaning must be made clear in translation. In some languages it will be very natural to do so by putting two verbs together as in Hebrew: “announce, boast about your extra offerings.”

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 .