(1-2) The LORD says … punish them. See Amos 1.3. It may be useful to mark Gaza as a town: “the people of the town of Gaza.”

(3) Because they carried into exile a whole people (Hebrew: because of their deporting an entire exile)/They carried off a whole nation. (Compare New English Bible: “because they deported a whole band of exiles.”) Such an abstract wording as the Hebrew presents problems in many languages, and the group or groups which were carried off should often be expressed in translation. It may not have been a whole nation which was carried off, however. It is better to speak of “whole groups” (New American Bible), or even of “whole villages.” Thus the translation might be something like “because they captured/carried off (as captives) the population of whole villages.”

To deliver them up to Edom/and sold them as slaves to the people of Edom. The attention is on the violence and the inhuman conduct to which the captives were submitted, and not on the commercial aspect of selling slaves. However, many languages require a specific translation, and a rendering such as sold sometimes cannot be avoided.

Them. To use some other translation than nation avoids another problem which the Good News Translation has here. Sold them (plural) refers back to nation (singular).

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 .