I overthrew some of you/I destroyed some of you. Another way of understanding the Hebrew meaning is “I brought destruction amongst you” (New English Bible), but that can hardly be translated without restructuring as something like I destroyed some of you. The way the destruction took place is not stated, and although many commentators think of an earthquake it is better not to try to include that in the translation like Moffatt did: “I sent you a shattering earthquake.”

As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah/as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. God refers to himself as God here rather than “I,” which happens frequently in the Hebrew, especially since God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah is doubtless a fixed phrase. In cases like this, God should be translated as “I” (Good News Translation and The Translator’s Old Testament) to avoid misunderstanding. One may want to show that Sodom and Gomorrah are “cities.”

And you were as a brand plucked out of the burning/Those of you who survived were like a burning stick saved from a fire. Almost the same expression occurs in Zech 3.2, which shows that this was a proverbial saying for a person saved from great danger. This saying became proverbial in English, also, which influenced the Revised Standard Version and Smith-Goodspeed translations. However, this expression is no longer common in modern English and does not exist in other languages. The Good News Translation translation makes the meaning clear and can be followed in most languages. Other possibilities include: “Those of you who were not destroyed (or: whom I did not destroy) barely escaped (or: were almost destroyed also) like when someone saves a stick from the fire, even after it has already begun to burn.”

On the other hand, a language may have a different proverbial expression which means the same thing, and the translator can use that to give a picture with some of the emotion of the original picture.

If a translation such as I destroyed some of you is used in the first part of the paragraph, the contrast between those destroyed and those saved may be brought out by saying something like “But/on the other hand you were….”

For the repeated part, see the preceding paragraphs.

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 .