By the sword/in war—. See 4.10.

Who say/all those who say. Whether or not the first part of this verse is combined with verse 9, the translator must be careful of the relationship between it and what goes before. It continues the theme begun in verse 7 that the LORD is not treating the people of Israel any differently from the other nations in spite of the fact that they are “my people.”

It may be helpful to start a new sentence and translate something like “You/These are the same sinners who say…”

Evil shall not overtake or meet us (Hebrew: You will not let disaster come near us or overtake us)/God will not let any harm come near us. If there is a problem with a quotation inside another quotation, the translation can easily say something like “that God will not let any harm come near you.”

Revised Standard Version has changed the Hebrew here, but in this case it would be better to follow such translations as New English Bible and The Translator’s Old Testament (“You will not let any harm overtake us or meet us”), except that it may be necessary to show who the “you” refers to. The most likely reference is to God himself, which is in keeping with the theme of 9.7-10, that Israel is wrong in thinking God will spare it because the people are God’s own people. Good News Translation is a good model: God will not let any harm come near us. The two verbs in Hebrew (overtake and meet) represent two parts of the same event, and should be translated according to what is natural and effective in the language.

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 .