I also withheld the rain from you/I kept it from raining. God’s control over the weather is expressed differently in different languages. One may have to say “I caused (made/gave) that it did not rain” or “I did not allow rain to fall (arrive).” The same type of problem comes later in the verse, where it can be translated “I would cause the rain to fall on one city, but would not allow it to fall on another city.”

When there were yet three months to the harvest/when your crops needed it most. This means that the “latter rain” of the spring (March-April), which is so necessary for the grain harvest three months later (May–June), did not fall. However, the timing is related to the climate in the Middle East and will not necessarily be understood in other areas. For that reason Good News Translation qualities the information by saying when your crops needed it most. In such a translation something about the Middle Eastern culture is left out, but it could easily be included as well: “three months before the harvest, when your crops needed it most.”

There may be no specific word for harvest in a language, but it can be described as “the time when grain was cut.”

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 .