The Hebrew that is translated as “high places” in English is translated in Chitonga as malende. Ernst Wendland (1987, p. 57) explains: “The preceding expression [‘place for worship/sacrifice on top of hills’], though intelligible linguistically, sounds rather strange to the Tonga who live on the relatively flat plains of southern Zambia. There are ‘hills’ in their country, but normally no one would ever worship regularly there. For this reason the new translation will try out a cultural substitute (see below), malende, the ‘local shrine’ of Tonga traditional religion, where the ‘priest’ (clan head, who may be a chief as well) makes sacrifices to the spirits in time of corporate calamity, especially drought. This would seem to approximate quite closely the main elements of both form and function of the term ‘high places’ in the Old Testament, which were not always or even usually set upon hills, especially in the latter days of the monarchy (cp. 2 Kings 17:9, 29).”
In the Chichewa interconfessional translation (publ. 1999), it is translated as “shrines for worshiping images there.” (Source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 319ff. )
The name that is transliterated as “Isaac” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and French Sign Language with a sign that is linked to his mother’s laughter when she hears that she will be pregnant with him (referring to Genesis 18:12 – 18:15) and also is the meaning of the Hebrew “Isaac” (Yitschaq — “he laughs”):
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Amos 7:9:
Kupsabiny: “The places where the house/descendants of Isaac are worshipping their idols will be torn down and the places in Israel where (people) pray shall be destroyed. I shall destroy with sword the house/family of king Jeroboam.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Isaac’s puja places will be destroyed completely. Israel’s Holy Places will be ruined. I will attack the House of Jeroboam with the sword.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-destroy the places-of-worship at the high places where those from-Israel who (are) descendants of Isaac worship. And I will-cause- Israel -to-be-attacked by the enemies, the kingdom of King Jeroboam.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The places on hills where the descendants of Isaac worship idols will be destroyed. And the other important shrines in Israel will also be destroyed. And I will enable your enemies to attack your people with swords and they will get rid of King Jeroboam and all his descendants.’” (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.
For the special character of this verse and its poetic structure, see 7.7.
The high places of Isaac/The places where Isaac’s descendants worship. High places refers to places of worship which are located on hills. Originally the high place was simply a burial mound with worship related to dead people, but later this developed into a fertility cult. The Israelites took over the custom of worshiping at the high places from the Canaanites with the difference that they did not worship Baal but the LORD.
Isaac stands for the people of the northern kingdom of Israel, and there will be misunderstanding if it is not translated as Isaac’s descendants.
High places of Isaac means the places where Isaac’s descendants worship and this will have to be spelled out in most languages. It may also be necessary to say whom they are worshiping: “me” (that is, God).
Worship. There are often good equivalents, such as “to cut one’s personality down before,” “to rub (earth) on one’s body” (an expression of homage and a recognition of kingship), etc.
Shall be made desolate/will be destroyed. Many translations will have to say something like “Someone (or: people/the enemy) will destroy the places where the descendants of Isaac worship me/(their) God.” It is not the location on the hills which is important here, so Good News Translation may be right in not mentioning high places. Another possibility, however, is “the places on the top of the hills where Isaac’s descendants worship.”
And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste/The holy places of Israel will be left in ruins. These are the more important state places of worship in the northern kingdom. Sanctuaries of Israel means “the sanctuaries in Israel.” (Note the difference from high places of Isaac just above.)
Holy. This is difficult to translate as was pointed out in 4.2. Sometimes a short descriptive phrase like “houses of God” or “houses where people worship God” can be used. In other cases there may be cultural equivalents like “festival longhouse (of God),” etc.
And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword/I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to an end. Rise against may often be translated “attack” or “defeat” (see 6.14).
With the sword. See 1.11.
It would be helpful to many readers to show that Jeroboam was a king.
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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