And though they go into captivity before their enemies/If they are taken away into captivity by their enemies. The idea is that even if enemies capture them and drive whole groups of them away like herds of cattle to another country, under their protection and under the protection of the god of that country, there will be no escape from the LORD. If there is a specific term for herding or driving cattle or other animals, the translation might be “if they are driven into captivity (like cattle) by their enemies” (compare The Translator’s Old Testament) or “if their enemies drive them into captivity (like cattle).” If there is no such word for herding animals, then a more general word like “lead” or “take away” can be used.

There I will command the sword, and it shall slay them/I will order them to be put to death. It is clear that the sword is the means used to kill the people, but it is not clear who will do the killing. Almost certainly it is not the enemies who captured the people. For English and many other languages the Good News Translation translation is good: I will order them to be put to death; other possibilities: “I will order people to kill them with the sword” or perhaps “I will make/cause that they perish through the sword (or: through violence/war).”

And I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good/I am determined to destroy them, not to help them. In Hebrew “to set the eye upon someone” normally means “to look after somebody” or “to take care of someone” so that for good is part of the normal meaning. Here the expression “set the eye upon” has just the opposite meaning. I will set my eyes indicates a determination of the LORD; good means “help” and evil means “destruction” in this particular context. It is very unlikely that a literal translation will make sense. It will be necessary to use some kind of equivalent picture or to remove the metaphor and translate the meaning directly as in Good News Translation.

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 .