Pass over to Calneh, and see; and thence go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory?/Go and look at the city of Calneh. Then go on to the great city of Hamath and on down to the Philistine city of Gath. Were they any better than the kingdoms of Judah and Israel? Was their territory larger than yours? Two main interpretations have been given for this verse: (1) That these are Amos’ own words addressed to the leaders of Israel, as a warning to remember nations which were greater than theirs and yet had met their doom. This is probably not the correct meaning. (2) It is a quotation put by Amos in the mouths of the rulers to show their unlimited boasting. The leaders tell the people to compare how well off Israel is in comparison with other nations. The translator will have to make a choice between these meanings. In many languages he cannot simply reproduce the questions and so maintain a vague meaning. In fact, he often has to provide definite answers to the questions or express the meaning in statements.

Good News Translation is not a good model to follow here. The best solution is to make a statement like: “You say to your people: go and look at the city of Calneh; then go on to the great city of Hamath, and on down to the Philistine city of Gath. See how none of these countries is as strong and as large as the kingdoms of Judah and Israel!” Or, “You say: let our people go … and see how….”

It will be necessary to pay special attention to the choice between “come” and “go,” particularly in languages with a highly developed directional system (see Translating Amos, Section 3). Hamath was a city-state in upper Syria on the Orontes River. Unfortunately, the city of Calneh has not yet been found. All we know is that it was north of Hamath. With Bethel as the viewpoint place of the book of Amos, the movement is first to the north (Calneh), from there to the south (Hamath), then further to the south and even slightly to the southwest, since Gath is located southwest of Bethel.

The usual translation better may be misleading, because the Hebrew word does not have a moral meaning here. Something like “prosperous” or “strong” (The Translator’s Old Testament) is more suitable.

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 .