Amos

Amos was no professional prophet, a shepherd and fig-grower from Judah sent north to Israel at the height of its prosperity. He begins by circling the surrounding nations with judgments, then lands the hammer on Israel itself: silks and ivory beds upstairs, the poor sold for a pair of sandals below. Worship is loud and lavish, and God says he despises it, because ritual without justice is noise. Let justice roll down like waters, Amos thunders, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Yet even this fierce book ends with restoration: David's fallen shelter raised and rebuilt.