For behold. See 6.11. Here, however, it is important to translate in such a way that the contrast between the boasting false security of 6.13 and the reality of punishment in 6.14 is clear. In English the use of “But” or “In the same way” to begin the verse would be helpful, and the same thing may be best in the language of the translation.

“I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” says the LORD, the God of hosts/The LORD God Almighty himself says, “People of Israel, I am going to send a foreign army to occupy your country. The Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew closely, except that in Hebrew a nation comes after God of hosts. The position of says the LORD, the God of hosts seems very strange in Hebrew until it is seen as the center of a balanced parallel (Appendix, Section 3.7) as with so many other things which seem out of order in Amos. However, in translation it should be put in wherever is best in the language of the translation; in many cases this would be at the beginning, like the Good News Translation. Then O house of Israel/People of Israel would come in whatever is the natural position within the saying itself.

I will raise up against you a nation/I am going to send a foreign army to occupy your country. Against you implies an attack and this must often be made clear: “I will cause a nation to attack you.” Nation can frequently be translated by “tribe,” the more so as war is often a tribal affair. On the other hand, nation certainly is a picture in which the whole (people) stands for a part (soldiers). So a translation as army is good also.

“And they shall oppress you from … to …/It will oppress you from … to … This part of the verse, which describes the results of the attack and the loss of security, can best be translated as an independent sentence. There may be difficulty finding an expression for oppress: “That nation/tribe/army will dominate you (or: occupy your country) from … to….” The idea of “oppression” must of course be one of the main meanings of whatever expression is used.

The entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah/from Hamath Pass in the north to the Brook of the Arabah in the south. The geographic names present some problems as can be seen from the different translations in English. The place or area of Hamath is probably to be found somewhere between Lebanon and the Antilebanon (see Translating Amos, Section 3). The brook of the Arabah cannot be identified with certainty, but it is probably in the area of the Dead Sea. Anyway, the two expressions taken together represent the northern and southern limits of the kingdom. In translation, it is very useful at least to help the reader by saying something like in the north and in the south. Also, the unknown “brook of the Arabah” could be replaced by a widely known “Dead Sea,” or a footnote could help the reader with any necessary geographic information.

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 .