The Hebrew that is translated in English as “fortress” (or: “stronghold”) is translated in Khoekhoe with ǁkhui-omga or “strong house.” (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
See also stronghold.
complete verse (Amos 1:4)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Amos 1:4:
- Kupsabiny: “So, I shall send fire to the home of king Hazael
to destroy that protected city of Ben-hadad.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation) - Newari: “I will put fire on the palace of King Hazael.
It will destroy the fortresses of Ben-hadad completely.” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon: “Therefore I will-burn the palace of King Hazael and the very strong/firm portions of Damascus which his child King Ben Hadad caused-to-be-built.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “I will cause a fire to burn the palace that King Hazael built and lived in,
the fortress where his son King Ben-Hadad also lived.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
Translation commentary on Amos 1:4
(4) So reflects the fact that verse 4 is a result of the terrible deeds of verse 3. Making the last part of verse 3 connected with verse 4 is also possible: “Because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron, I will send fire…” (New American Bible; compare Jerusalem Bible [Jerusalem Bible]). Whatever is done to express this relationship should fit in with the same relationship also shown between the parts of verse 3, as already discussed.
Send a fire/send fire refers to the burning which goes along with defeat by a foreign army, in this case by the Lord. The battle of which the fire is a part is mentioned directly in the punishment of Ammon (1.14) and Moab (2.2). Sometimes fire has been translated “fires of war” (Moffatt). Send is picture language for “make/cause (fire) to burn.”
The house of Hazael/the palace built by King Hazael. Because of the parallel between Hazael and Benhadad, this Hebrew expression could mean “the royal family of Hazael,” which in turn could be taken as “the kingdom of Syria.” In the same way the fortresses of King Benhadad could mean the town of Damascus.
On the other hand, it may be better to take house literally, as the exact parallel word in the next line is a Hebrew word translated fortresses. Also, the expression I will send fire occurs in all the other messages of this section except the one against Israel, and the fire always burns a building. A translation “on the house (palace) of King Hazael” is therefore better.
Make sure that the palace built by King Hazael and the fortresses of King Benhadad do not sound like different places. In languages where parallelism or the grammatical construction does not make it clear that they are the same, some additional restructuring may do it: “the royal palace of Syria, with its fortresses defended by King Benhadad” or “the royal palace … among the fortresses…” or “the royal palace…, that is, the fortresses of King Benhadad.”
Devour/burn down. The Hebrew idiom of “fire that eats (up) something” occurs frequently and can be carried over naturally into many languages. In other cases, the translation will have to have another picture or translate the meaning burn.
Strongholds/fortresses translates one of the most important parts of the meaning of the Hebrew word (New American Bible: “castles”). Unfortunately, such buildings are not known in many parts of the world so this meaning cannot always be made clear in translation. Sometimes a more general word has to be used in this context, and the nearest equivalent which is present in some languages may be the word for “chief’s compound” or “chief’s house.”
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 .
SIL Translator’s Notes on Amos 1:4
1:4a So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael
Therefore, I will send fire on the palace ⌊of King⌋ Hazael,
-or-
So, I will cause a fire to burn the palace that Hazael built and lived in.
1:4b to consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.
and it will destroy the walled city ⌊of King⌋ Ben-Hadad.
-or-
The fire will burn the city with strong walls that ⌊his son King⌋ Ben-Hadad lived in.
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