high places

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.)

Translation commentary on Amos 7:9

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 .