Amos is the shepherd from Tekoa whom the Lord took from following the flock and sent north with a plumb line.
I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son,
but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.
The Lord took me from following the flock,
and the Lord said to me,
Go,
prophesy to My people Israel.
Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
He saw the Lord standing beside the altar.
He also heard of a booth of David raised up.
The country preacher would not rent his tongue to Bethel’s priest.
The days were fat under Jeroboam the son of Joash. Ivory houses. Idle songs. Bowls of wine. They sold the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. Amos came from Judah’s hills into Israel’s shrine-circuit and opened with oracles against the nations—Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab—then Judah, then Israel, so that no one could say the foreigner alone was in trouble. Seek Me and live. Seek good, and not evil. Do not come to Bethel.
The Day of the Lord, they thought, would be light. He said darkness. Visions came: locusts, fire, a plumb line, summer fruit at the end. Amaziah the priest of Bethel told him to flee to Judah and eat bread there. Amos would not take the guild badge. The Lord had taken him. The book does not end in the rubble of Samaria only. In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen.
James will quote that word in Acts when Gentiles come in. Mountains dripping sweet wine sit at the close after the roar from Zion. Amos is justice with a shepherd’s hands and a remnant still on the page.
- Not a prophet’s son means call, not career.
- Oracles against the nations circle home. The last cap fits Israel.
- Justice like waters is not a slogan for the court only. Worship without it is noise.
- Day of the Lord can be night for the people who claimed it as a holiday.
- Plumb line means the wall is already measured, not still under debate.
- Amaziah wants geography to silence a word. The flock-follower stays sent.
- Booth of David is hope after the collapse—wide enough for nations.
- Tekoa – Herdsman; sycamore figs; Judah sent north.
- Against the Nations – Then against Israel.
- Justice and Righteousness – Waters; ever-flowing stream.
- Empty Feasts – I hate, I despise your feasts.
- Visions – Locust, fire, plumb line, ripe fruit.
- Amaziah – Flee, O seer; but the Lord took me.
- Booth of David – Raised; ruins rebuilt; wine on the mountains.
- Amos 1:1-2 – The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa… The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem.
- Amos 7:14-15 – “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”
- Amos 5:21-24 – “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies… Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
- Amos 5:18, 20 – Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light.
- Amos 5:4, 14-15 – Seek Me and live… Seek good, and not evil, that you may live… Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate.
- Amos 2:6-7 – They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.
- Amos 3:8 – The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?
- Amos 7:7-9 – Behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line… “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.”
- Amos 8:1-2, 11 – A basket of summer fruit… “The end has come upon my people Israel.”… I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
- Amos 9:1, 11-15 – I saw the Lord standing beside the altar… “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches… that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name… the mountains shall drip sweet wine.”
- Acts 15:16-17 – After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen… that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name.
- Joel 3:16 – The Lord roars from Zion—Amos opens with the same roar.
The Lord took me from following the flock. Go, prophesy to My people Israel.
Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
I hate, I despise your feasts. Take away from Me the noise of your songs.
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. It is darkness, and not light.
I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel.
In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen. The mountains shall drip sweet wine.
Do not hire a safer pulpit. Do not call noise worship while sandals buy the poor. Seek Him and live. Establish justice in the gate. The roar is from Zion. The booth will stand. The nations called by His name will seek the Lord.
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