3. (a) Why was Amos’ message of woe timely? (b) How did he magnify Jehovah’s sovereignty?

³ The name Amos means “Being a Load” or “Carrying a Load.” While he carried messages burdened with woe to Israel and Judah (and also to numerous heathen nations), he also bore a message of comfort concerning the restoration of Jehovah’s people. There was every reason for pronouncing a burden of woe in Israel. Prosperity, luxurious living, and licentiousness were the order of the day. The people had forgotten the Law of Jehovah. Their apparent prosperity blinded them to the fact that like overripe fruit, they were already in the process of decay leading to destruction. Amos prophesied that in just a few short years, the ten-tribe kingdom would go into exile beyond Damascus. In this he magnified the righteousness and sovereignty of Jehovah, whom he refers to 21 times as the “Sovereign Lord.”​—Amos 1:8.

And Israel? Jehovah annihilated the formidable Amorites for them and gave them the good land. He raised up Nazirites and prophets among them, but they made the Nazirites break their vow and commanded the prophets: “You must not prophesy.” (2:12) Therefore Jehovah is making their foundations sway like a wagon loaded with newly cut grain. As for their mighty men, they will flee naked.

9. What proves that Jehovah has spoken, and against whom does Amos specially prophesy?

⁹ The accounting with Israel (3:1–6:14). By his use of striking illustrations, Amos emphasizes that the fact of his prophesying, in itself, proves that Jehovah has spoken. “For the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets. . . . The Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself has spoken! Who will not prophesy?” (3:7, 8) Amos does specially prophesy against the luxury-loving despoilers dwelling in Samaria. Jehovah will snatch them off their splendid couches, and their houses of ivory will perish.

10. Of what does Jehovah remind Israel, and what day of woe is due to come?

¹⁰ Jehovah recounts his chastisements and corrections of Israel. Five times he reminds them: “You did not come back to me.” Therefore, O Israel, “get ready to meet your God.” (4:6-12) Amos takes up a prophetic dirge: “The virgin, Israel, has fallen; she cannot get up again. She has been forsaken upon her own ground; there is no one raising her up.” (5:2) However, Jehovah, the Maker of wonderful things in heaven and earth, keeps calling Israel to search for him and keep living. Yes, “search for what is good, and not what is bad, to the end that you people may keep living.” (5:4, 6, 14) But what will the day of Jehovah mean to them? It will be a day of woe. Like a torrent it will sweep them into exile beyond Damascus, and the ivory-decked houses of their sprawling feasts will be turned to rubble and debris.

12. What famine is foretold for Israel, but with what glorious promise does the prophecy end?

¹² Oppression, punishment, and restoration (8:1–9:15). Jehovah shows Amos a basket of summer fruit. He condemns Israel’s oppression of the poor and swears “by the Superiority of Jacob” that they will have to mourn on account of their bad works. “‘Look! There are days coming,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘and I will send a famine into the land, a famine, not for bread, and a thirst, not for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah.’” (8:7, 11) They will fall to rise up no more. Whether they dig down into Sheol or climb up to the heavens, Jehovah’s own hand will take them. The sinners of his people will die by the sword.