Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Amos 9:3:
Kupsabiny: “Even if (they) hid on top of Mount Carmel, I would seek (them) there until I caught (them). Even if they went down to the depth/stomach of the ocean, I would tell a snake to bite (them).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “If they hide on the peak of Mount Carmel, having searched them I will capture them. If they hide from me to the bottom of the ocean, I will command the serpent to bite them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Even if they will-hide on the tip/peak of Mount Carmel, I will-look for them there and seize/capture-them. Even if they will-hide under the sea, I will-command the snake there to bite them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “If they go to the top of Carmel Mountain to escape, I will search for them and seize them. If they try to hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command the huge sea monster to bite them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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.
The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
In Malagasy culture, the sea is perceived as sacred because it was a path taken by the ancestors. That is why the Malagasy word for the “sea” is ranomasina, which literally means “the sacred water.” The word masina actually has two different meanings: “salted” and “sacred/holy.” Salt is used for the conservation of some foods, such as meat or fish, that are to be set aside for later use. In this sense, the Malagasy phrase for “Holy Spirit” has the literal meaning of “Salted Spirit.” (Source: Brigitte Rabarijaona in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 103ff.)
Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search out and take them/If they hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I will search for them and catch them. The top of Carmel was an ideal hiding place because of thick forests and more than two thousand limestone caves. Such information should, however, not be stated in the translation. The important thing is the balance of up with down. Normally it is important to indicate that Carmel is a “mountain” or “hill.”
Good News Translation stops using even after verse 2, but in some languages it may be better to use an equivalent expression in verses 3 and 4 also, in order to emphasize the impossibility of escape.
And though they hide from my sight (Hebrew: my eyes) at the bottom of the sea/If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea. “My eyes,” of course, is a picture of God searching, and when understood as such can be kept in the translation (Smith-Goodspeed; compare Revised Standard Version, The Translator’s Old Testament: my sight; New American Bible: “my gaze”). In other cases it may be more natural to say from me (so also Moffatt, New English Bible). Sometimes it would be possible not to state directly what they are hiding from because it is clear from the context.
It is not always easy to translate at the bottom of the sea. In cultures where the sea is not known, it may be necessary to say “on the earth, after having gone into the water” or “… under the deep water” or “… deep in the water.”
There I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them/I will command the sea monster to bite them. This is the only case in this paragraph where the picture is of the LORD using something else to accomplish what he wants to do. However, it is not fully clear what the meaning is. The English translations indicate the range of possibilities: serpent (also Smith-Goodspeed, New American Bible), “Serpent” (with capital S: The Translator’s Old Testament), “Dragon” (Moffatt), or sea monster. Since poisonous sea-serpents did not live in the Mediterranean, most scholars think that this is the sea monster, called Rahab (Isa 51.9; Psa 89.10; Job 9.13; 26.12) and Leviathan (Isa 27.1; Psa 74.14). On the other hand, except for Isa 27.1, these passages do not have the Hebrew word nachash which is used here, whereas this word and the word for bite are both used in Amos 5.19: bitten by a snake. The translator will have to make his translation on the basis of what makes sense in his language. If it is possible to speak of a sea monster, it may still be necessary to add a cultural note such as is given in Good News Translation: “It was believed that the sea was inhabited by a great monster. This creature, like all others, was regarded as under God’s control.” In some languages there may be some fearful creature in the sea, and it may be possible to use that here. Often, however, it is necessary to use the general term for “snake.”
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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