Says the Lord GOD/I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew sentence order. Good News Translation puts the phrase at the end of verse 9, where it does not fit, since Good News Translation has no paragraph break before verse 9. This expression should have been put either at the beginning of verse 9 or at the end of verse 10. For many other languages the natural place for this phrase is either at the beginning of a new paragraph like (The Translator’s Old Testament) or at the end of verse 10.

And on that day/The time is coming. This is again a reference to the day of the LORD (see 2.16; 5.18). If possible, the translation should not be so general as in Good News Translation. It would be better to use the same expression as in 8.3 (on that day) or something like “when the day of my judgment comes” or “on that day when I will punish the people,” etc.

I will make the sun go down at noon. This is a reference to an eclipse of the sun. It is likely to present translation problems only where the expression for noon is something like “sun overhead.” In such a case one possibility would be “I will make the sun go down when it should be overhead,” or “I will make the sun disappear in the middle of the day.”

And darken the earth in broad daylight/and the earth grow dark in daytime. Another possibility: “darkness will come/happen during the daytime.”

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 .