(4) So I will send fire … fortresses. See Amos 1.4. This time the Hebrew shows another slight variation: “I will set fire to” instead of the usual “I will send fire on.” This variation makes almost no charge in meaning, so the translator may use the phrase which he has used elsewhere if it seems best.

With shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind/Then there will be shouts on the day of battle, and the fighting will rage like a storm. In this case the battle of which the fire is a part is mentioned. The Hebrew parallelism makes clear that “whirlwind” is a picture of the heavy fighting. Since a translation such as tempest in the day of the whirlwind makes little sense in most languages, the Good News Translation type solution is helpful. The translator should also make sure that the relation between shouts and battle is clear. The shouts are part of the noise of the confused fighting and the failing defenses.

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 .