And he said/The LORD asked. See 7.8. Here, in addition, it may be better to translate he as the LORD and/or indicate that he spoke to “me,” depending on what is best in the language.

“Amos, what do you see?” And I said/“Amos, what do you see?” … I answered. Unless there is some reason in the language why it should not be done, the wording here should be the same as in 7.8.

“A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel/“A basket of fruit,” … The LORD said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel. There is a pun between the Hebrew words for summer fruit (qayits) and end (qets). In order to make some kind of pun in English, some translations have “ripe fruit” in verse 1, and here they have “the time is ripe” (New American Bible, New English Bible) or “so is the doom ripe” (Moffatt). However, puns are almost never translatable; only occasionally is there a suitable equivalent, as with “ripe.” To make up a pun which sounds unnatural is no help. Usually it is better to translate the Hebrew rather literally (the end has come) and add a short note that the Hebrew words for “end” and “fruit” are similar, as is done in Good News Translation. Of course, the end has come should not be translated literally, but perhaps something like “the time is finished,” “this is the end” or “(my people Israel) will not continue any longer,” etc.

I will never again pass by them/I will not change my mind again about punishing them. The wording is the same as in 7.8.

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 .