You who rejoice in Lodebar/You brag about capturing the town of Lodebar. The Hebrew word for rejoice certainly implies “rejoicing arrogantly” here. Depending on what particular meaning one wishes to stress, such different translations as “exult,” “be/are jubilant” (The Translator’s Old Testament, New English Bible), “are so proud” (Moffatt), and brag are possible in English. Many languages have particular idioms to express such feelings, such as “your heart is sweet.”

The reason for joy is to be found later in the verse and should be made clear as capturing the town of Lodebar; a possible translation might be “you are proud because you have captured the town of Lodebar.”

Lodebar was a town on the left bank of the Jordan River, south of the Sea of Galilee and north-northeast of Bethel, the viewpoint place of the book (see Translating Amos, Section 3). It should be clear that Lodebar is a town.

Who say, “Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?”/You boast, “We were strong enough to take Karnaim.” In Hebrew the first person plural suffixes make the sentence sound very boastful. This could be captured in English by translating something like, “We captured Karnaim; we were strong enough to do it ourselves.” By our own strength can often be emphasized: “It is by our own strength….” The use of boast also helps in English, and one may have something equivalent.

Karnaim is the name of a town. It was situated northeast of Lodebar, approximately halfway between Damascus and Amman. In Good News Translation Karnaim is not called a “town” because it seemed unnecessary after speaking of the town of Lodebar. But in many languages one will have to say “the town of Karnaim.”

Smith-Goodspeed and New English Bible have very different translations here. New English Bible, for example, has “you who are jubilant over a nothing and boast, ‘Have we not won power by our own strength?’ ” Such a translation is possible, because the Hebrew name Lodebar sounds like the Hebrew word for “nothing,” and the name Karnaim is the same as the word for “horns,” a picture of “power.” Many ancient translations also take this interpretation. However, it is not recommended. The context makes concrete military victories likely, and there is probably a word play. So it is better to keep the proper names in the translation and give two short footnotes like those in Good News Translation.

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 .