Amos 1:1-2

Who was Amos?

1 Amos was one of the shepherds who lived in the town of Tekoa. God spoke to him. He showed Amos the things that would happen to the people of Israel. God did that two years before the earthquake came. It was during the time that Uzziah was the king of Judah, and Joash's son, Jeroboam, was the king of Israel. This book tells about the message that Amos received from God.

1:1Tekoa was a town near Jerusalem. It was where Amos kept his sheep.

2 Amos said, ‘The Lord speaks loudly from Zion. Yes, he shouts from Jerusalem. As a result, the green fields will become dry and the grass will die. There will be nothing for the sheep to eat. Even the grass on Mount Carmel mountain will die.’

1:2When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as ‘Yahweh’, or as ‘Jehovah’. It is his own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.