“They do not know how to do right,” says the LORD, “those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”/ The LORD says, “These people fill their mansions with things taken by crime and violence. They don’t even know how to be honest. The tone of this verse and the next is scornful and disrespectful.

Good News Translation has done some major restructuring. The LORD says has been put at the beginning, and the order of the two halves of the verse has been changed to give the example of what people do (stealing and violence) before the general statement that They don’t even know how to be honest. The whole picture is made clearer: not violence and robbery are stored up, but the result of robbery and violence: things taken by crime and violence. The emphasis of the Hebrew on the word know is brought out: they don’t even know.

To what extent such restructuring will help in another translation depends entirely upon the language. Is the evidence or example better first, or the conclusion based on that evidence? The use of violence and robbery for the goods gained by violence and robbery has a strong effect in Hebrew. It intensifies the accusation. However, in many languages store up violence and robbery makes no sense, or is even ungrammatical. Some of the strength of the accusation can sometimes be expressed through changes in order: crime and violence or “robbery and murder.” The colorless word things could be translated with a word for “loot” or some such expression for things gained through violent action.

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 .