The Hebrew, Ge’ez, Latin, or Greek which are translated into English as “sackcloth” are rendered into Chamula Tzotzil as “sad-heart clothes.” (Source: Robert Bascom)
Pohnpeian and Chuukese translate it as “clothing-of sadness,” Eastern Highland Otomi uses “clothing that hurts,” Central Mazahua “that which is scratchy,” Tae’ and Zarma “rags” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), and Tangale as “torn clothes that show contrition on the body” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin). In the English translation by Goldingay (2018), “put on sackcloth” is translated as wrap on sack.
“In Turkana, a woman removes her normal everyday skin clothes and ornaments and wears rather poor skins during the time of mourning. The whole custom is known as ngiboro. It is very difficult to translate putting on sackcloth because even material like sacking is unfamiliar. The Haya, on the other hand, have a mourning cloth made out of the bark of a tree; and the use of this cloth is similar to the Jewish use of sackcloth. It was found that in both the Turkana and Ruhaya common language translations, their traditional mourning ceremonies were used.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator1985, p. 221ff. )
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing what a sackcloth looked like in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “mourn” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “have one’s heart broken” or “have a bursting heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).
In Cherokee it is translated as “going around feeling badly” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Amos 8:10:
Kupsabiny: “I shall turn your feasts to become mourning and turn your joy to become tears. I shall make you wear clothes of mourning and shave your heads on account of disaster. You shall be like parents who mourn for their only child. That day will be painful until the end.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will do that time like mourning for an only son. That day will be like a bitter day.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-turn your (plur.) marrying/rejoicing during feast into crying/weeping, and I will-turn into a lament your (plur.) singings. I will-clothe you (plur.) with sack and I will-command you (plur.) to become-bald to show that you (plur.) are-mourning, like the parents who cry/weep for the death of their only child. But more very painful yet (is) the end of these punishments.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will cause your religious celebrations to become times when you mourn; instead of singing, everyone will be weeping. Because of what I will do, all of you will wear rough sackcloth and shave your heads to show that you are sorrowing. I will cause that time to be like when people mourn after an only son has died. All of you will be extremely sad all of that day.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Verse 10 continues the list of punishments, but there is no other immediate connection with verse 9. Attention now is on the sorrow that will result from punishment, not on disruptions in nature. For many languages a connection like “also” or “not only that but” will be needed between the verses.
I will turn your feasts into mourning/I will turn your festivals into funerals. Festivals into funerals makes a very effective contrast in English, but in many cultures funerals may be considered a kind of feast. Some possibilities: “while you are feasting joyfully, I will make you start mourning” or “I will make/cause you not to feast joyfully, but to mourn.”
And all your songs into lamentation/and change your glad songs into cries of grief. For many languages Good News Translation is an excellent model. However, in languages where “songs” are only cheerful it may be better to contrast “songs” and “lamentations.”
I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness on every head/I will make you shave your heads and wear sackcloth. Two particular mourning customs are mentioned: (1) to put on clothing of coarse hairy material, wrapped around the waist; (2) to shave the head, either completely or in part. Baldness on every head will usually be understood wrongly as natural baldness. I will make you shave your heads is better. Make you or “cause you” is often necessary because the LORD is not actually doing the shaving. In the same way it is usually best to say I will make you … wear sackcloth.
Sackcloth often has to be translated with a phrase like “rough coarse cloth around your waist.” However, even then the reader may not understand that the shaving and sackcloth are customs of mourning for the dead. So it may be necessary to add something like “to show that you are mourning.”
It is sometimes possible to use equivalent mourning customs from the culture of the translator, especially if they are not very different from the Hebrew ones: for example, “I will put the cord of mourning around your neck,” which would be immediately understood in certain cultures. However, there are dangers as well as advantages in such a cultural translation. Particular aspects of the Hebrew culture are lost, and there may be undesirable meanings.
I will make it like the mourning for an only son/and you will be like parents mourning for their only son. The Hebrew translated by it refers to the total event. One possibility: “I will make you mourn like someone whose only son has died.” Good News Translation also gives a good model.
And the end of it like a bitter day/That day will be bitter to the end. Here again it refers to the total event. The meaning is “on that day (from verse 9) … the end of everything will be like a day of tragedy” (compare The Translator’s Old Testament) or “on that day … everything will end in tragedy.” A possible translation might be something like “everything which happens will end with great sorrow.”
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 .
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