“‘In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,’ declares the Lord who does this. ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman… Read More ›

“I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs” (Amos 7:14). Again, we see the backwoods credentials of the prophet Amos. He’s been prophesying against Israel, but one of Israel’s religious officials, the priest of Bethel, Amaziah, doesn’t like it one bit. He goes to… Read More ›

“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches… who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!” (Amos 6:4, 6). This passage doesn’t prove that you aren’t allowed to have nice things (ivory beds, wine by the bowlful). Amos… Read More ›

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). All our hearts desire it. Long for it. Crave that things be set right in our world. Amos’s image is perfect. In the midst of a brown, dusty, dry, desert wilderness of sin and wrongdoing, justice is like a deep blue… Read More ›

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’” (Amos 4:1). The time for social niceties in Israel has passed. Now it’s time for judgment. When Amos calls out against the “cows of Bashan,” he’s talking to a… Read More ›

“Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?” (Amos 3:6) This morning we heard from a friend who just had a baby by C-section. It turns out that her scar, freshly sown in the past two weeks and slowly healing, opened up and had to be treated at the hospital. When I heard it,… Read More ›

“[T]hey sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned” (Amos 2:6-7) Up to now, Amos,… Read More ›

“The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel” (Amos 1:1). Today we start in on the book of Amos. And the first chapter gets right down to it. Amos has been sent by God to call down judgment his roaring judgment (1:2), and call it down he… Read More ›