Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground when it has taken nothing?/Does a bird get caught in a trap if the trap has not been baited? Does a trap spring unless something sets it off? The snare/trap probably consisted of two rectangular frames flat on the ground and covered with a net. When the bird touched some sort of mechanism, the frames snapped together, holding the bird in the net which was folded around it. A complication which can be seen in some English translations is that possibly the word for trap came into the Hebrew by a copying mistake. The ancient Greek translation does not have any such word. We do not give this information to suggest that the translator not translate the Hebrew as it now is (with trap), but to show where some other translations come from.

Trap/baited. There are four different ways of understanding this word:

(a) “Bait,” “lure.” Most English translations take this meaning. For example, in addition to Good News Translation: “Is a bird brought to earth by a snare when there is no lure for it?” (New American Bible); “Does a bird swoop to a trap on the ground if there is no bait in it?” (The Translator’s Old Testament); “Does a bird drop into the trap unless the trap is baited?” (Moffatt).

(b) The trigger, or mechanism which releases the trap: “Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground if the striker is not set for it?” (New English Bible).

(c) A boomerang or throwing stick. If this is the meaning, then the additional word for trap is impossible, as discussed above: “Does a bird fall on the ground unless a thrown stick has hit it?” (Zürcher Bibel).

(d) A “snare.” “Does a bird fall to the ground when there is no snare for it?” (Smith-Goodspeed).

Although it is recommended that the translator choose (a) or (b) as the meaning of the present Hebrew text, it is impossible to say that one of these meanings is correct and the others not. Translators may even be happy with the range of choice, because each culture will have its own ways of catching birds, and one Hebrew meaning may be easier to translate than another. Even then, some degree of cultural translation may be necessary. If, for example, in a certain culture only bird lime is used, with termites in it as bait, it may be necessary to say something like: “Does a bird swoop to the bird lime unless there are termites in it?” Note that in such a translation local specific items are used for trap and bait. Or if the culture is unacquainted with the type of trap intended in the Hebrew, but knows of other types of snare: “Does a snare move if nothing has fallen in it?” Here a general word “to move” is used for the specific spring up. In such cases, the parallel between “falling down” and “springing up” is lost. But it may be impossible to avoid that.

The consequence-condition relationship may have to be brought out more clearly in some languages than in Hebrew. So in Good News Translation the result of the falling is the consequence: Does a trap spring … and the condition has been indicated by unless: unless something sets it off.

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 .