Who sing idle songs to the sound (Hebrew: upon the mouth of) of the harp (or: lute) and like David invent for themselves instruments of music/You like to compose songs, as David did, and play them on harps. Translations of this verse differ very much because the Hebrew is not clear. It is easier if we start with the second part of this sentence: like David invent for themselves instruments of music. Many translations (Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, The Translator’s Old Testament, Dhorme, Bible de Jérusalem) translate this literally, but not many commentators think that is the right meaning because it makes no sense either within this paragraph or in the wider historical context of the Old Testament.

For that reason, the great majority of scholars have proposed very minor changes of the Hebrew. Not all scholars would propose exactly the same change, but all give a common understanding of the text, as in Smith-Goodspeed: “and compose songs for themselves like David,” Moffatt: “composing airs like David himself” and Good News Translation: You like to compose songs, as David did. This meaning should be translated in spite of the minor changes in the Hebrew that are involved.

In the first part of the Hebrew verse, only the meaning “to the sound of (upon the mouth of) the lute” is sure. The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb (which is found only here in the Old Testament) is not clear. No definite solution can be offered here, but all the various meanings proposed for the word involve the meaning of “to sing” or “to play,” and it seems safe to use one of these, as in Good News Translation: and play them on harps.

Good News Translation has changed the order of the two halves of the verse since composing songs normally precedes their singing or playing. This change would be helpful in many languages.

Invent/compose. Some languages have no special term for composing music. In some situations the nearest idea is “improvising”; or it may be necessary to translate “you like to sing new songs, which nobody sang before, and play them on harps.”

Harps. See 5.23.

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 .