The major problems in translating this verse were discussed in 5.25-27.

O house of Israel/People of Israel. See 5.1.

Did you bring to me/I did not demand. This is a reference to an ideal time in the desert when Israel showed its relationship to the Lord by faithfulness to him, not by forms of worship like offerings and sacrifices. Revised Standard Version could sound like a condemnation of Israel for not bringing sacrifices and offerings, which is clearly not what is meant. Good News Translation improves this by making clear that the LORD did not demand sacrifices and offerings, but this changes the point slightly, because the emphasis in Hebrew is not on what the LORD demanded but on Israel’s action. Perhaps a translation like “you did not have to show your faithfulness to me by sacrifices and offerings during those forty years…” could be used.

The forty years in the wilderness/those forty years that I led you through the desert. Good News Translation has made the time and place relationships clear, and other translations should probably do the same. See 2.10.

Sacrifices and offerings. This Hebrew word for sacrifice was not included in verse 22. Offerings refer to offerings of plants and grains and sacrifices to animal offerings in general. Together they cover the whole range of what was offered. However, where a language does not have a number of different words for different kinds of offerings, the translator may have to use the same kind of concise expression that was suggested for verse 22, and in some languages he will need to use one word or expression to cover both Hebrew words here.

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 .