And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die/If there are ten men left in a family, they will die. There is no necessity to understand men in the sense of “male” and to wonder (as some commentators do) why there were so many males in the house. “People” is often more natural.

It is possible that the ten people were members of one family, but the Hebrew word house should not be taken to mean family here. The use of the Hebrew word for in and the repeated use of the word for house, clearly meaning “building” in verse 10 indicate that “house” is best, as in all other English translations.

It is possible to understand the reason for the ten people remaining in the house as their being left alive from some earlier, unstated disaster and looking for security by hiding in a house. But the security is false (in keeping with the theme of 5.18–6.14), and they die there. In some languages this should be made clear: “If ten men try to keep safe by staying/hiding together in a house they will die just the same (or: nevertheless die).”

The translator who consults Smith-Goodspeed may be puzzled by the translation “and they die one being left over.” This comes from one of the ancient translations and should not be followed.

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 .