Amos Faces Amaziah

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a report to Jeroboam king of Israel about Amos. He said Amos was speaking in the middle of Israel against the king, and that the land could not bear all his words. Amaziah reported that Amos had said Jeroboam would die by the sword and Israel would be led away captive from its land.

Then Amaziah spoke to Amos himself. He called him a seer and told him to flee to the land of Judah. Amaziah said Amos could earn his bread there and prophesy there, but not at Bethel any more, because Bethel was the king’s sanctuary and a royal house.

Amos answered that he was not a prophet, and not a prophet’s son. He said he was a herdsman and a farmer of sycamore figs. But the Lord had taken him from following the flock and told him, to go and prophesy to the Lord’s people Israel.

So Amos told Amaziah to listen to the Lord’s word. Amaziah had been saying, “Do not prophesy against Israel,” and, “Do not preach against the house of Isaac.” Amos answered with the message the Lord gave him, not with a message of his own.

The word Amos spoke to Amaziah was very hard. He said Amaziah’s wife would become a prostitute in the city, his sons and daughters would fall by the sword, and his land would be divided up. Amos also said Amaziah would die in an unclean land, and Israel would surely go into exile from its land.