Thus the Lord GOD showed me/I had a vision from the Sovereign LORD. Amos is speaking again; that fact will have to be made clear in some languages. This is also the beginning of a very short story, and in many languages it should start like a story starts: “One time,” “One day,” “It happened,” etc. The Hebrew has Thus in a prominent position at the beginning of the story. The translation should have a similar effect: “Here is what the Lord GOD showed me,” “This is what…” or “Listen to what….” Sometimes it is necessary to be a little more specific and say: “showed me in a vision.”

Behold … and lo. The usage here is slightly different from 2.13, 4.13, and 6.14 because here the expression does not show a concluding, climactic statement, but points to something unusual, something worth seeing. One way of translating this effect in English would be to say “what was he doing but (creating …)” or “he was actually creating….” The translation will be stronger if it has an equivalent effect. Some languages have ways of doing this in the grammar itself.

He (Hebrew: someone) was forming (Hebrew: a swarm of) locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings/In it I saw him create a swarm of locusts just after the king’s share of the hay had been cut and the grass was starting to grow again. A comparison of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation will show that in the Hebrew structure (Revised Standard Version) two events (forming and shooting up) happen at the same time, and that additional information is given afterwards to show when this took place. Good News Translation restructures this same information in a very different way. In many languages something which is more like the Hebrew sentence structure may be the more dramatic, effective style.

The person who is doing the forming is not named in Hebrew, because the things formed are being emphasized instead. It is clear, however, that the LORD himself is doing it, and this information must often be stated in a translation. This can be done without a wrong emphasis by saying something like I saw him create a swarm of locusts.

Locusts/a swarm of locusts. The Good News Translation seems to be the correct translation of the single Hebrew word (see all recent English translations). Because this took place in the spring it is possible that these were locusts at the stage before they changed into adult form. They seem to eat more then than at any other time. There are many different Hebrew words for locust, but it is hard to know what their different meanings were.

As far as translation is concerned, see 4.9. In some cases it will be necessary to use the same word as was used there even though the Hebrew term is different. To add something like a swarm of may be helpful.

Latter growth/starting to grow again. The meaning is not certain. It may have meant the crops which came as the result of the rains late in the spring (Moffatt: “spring-crops … royal crop”; The Translator’s Old Testament: “main crop … first crop”; New English Bible “late corn … early crop”) or it may have been what grows after making hay (Smith-Goodspeed: “aftermath … mowings”; grass … hay).

King’s mowings/the king’s share of the hay. Unfortunately such a custom is not mentioned anywhere else in the Old Testament. However it has generally been understood to mean that the king had the first grass of spring cut for his horses. In a later period the Roman rulers of Syria claimed such a right during the months of March-April, and even in modern times the Turkish government required the same from the peasants.

In many languages the translation must say what was mowed, which means choosing between “grain” and “grass.” Although the evidence for “grass” seems to be slightly greater, “grain” is still possible.

Here is a possible restructuring of the whole thing: “(I saw him create a swarm of locusts) just after the grass/grain had been cut (or: the farmers had cut the grass/grain) for the king. It was at the very moment when the new young grass started to grow again.”

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 .