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One-sentence summary: The Lord promises to punish Israel for their sins and forsake them, yet He promises to bring them back and bless them.
The Lord says through Amos, "Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and trust in Mt. Samaria," and, "Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, who cause the seat of violence to come near, who lie on beds of ivory." He says they will go captive. The Lord has sworn that he hates the pride of Jacob and its palaces, so He will deliver up the city. They have "turned justice into gall and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. They rejoice over Lo-debar," saying they have taken it by their own strength. The Lord will raise up a nation against them who will afflict them.
The Lord shows Amos that He formed locusts swarms to eat the crops. Amos asks the Lord to forgive Jacob, since he is small, and the Lord relents. The Lord also causes "conflict by fire" to devour the territory, and Amos pleads for Jacob, and the Lord also relents. The Lord stands on a wall with a plumbline in His hand and asks Amos what he sees. Amos answers, and the Lord says he is setting a plumbline in the midst of the people, and He will not pass by them anymore. The high places will be desolate and the sanctuaries laid waste. He will rise with a sword against the house of Jeroboam. Then, Amaziah the priest of Bethel, sends to Jeroboam king of Israel and says that Amos has conspired against him. He says the land can't bear his words, because he said Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel led away captive. Amaziah tells Amos to flee to the land of Judah and prophesy there but to never prophesy at Bethel again, since it is the king's sanctuary (home.) Amos says he was not a prophet or a son of a prophet but bred sheep and tended sycamore fruit, but the Lord called him as he was tending the sheep and told him to prophesy. Therefore, he tells him to hear the word of the Lord. "Your wife will be a harlot in the city. Your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be divided.... You shall die in a defiled land, and Israel will surely be led away captive."
The Lord shows Amos a basket of summer fruit, and He asks Amos what he sees. When Amos responds, the Lord says that the end has come upon Israel, that He will not pass by them anymore. The sons of the temple will be wailing. There will be dead bodies everywhere. "Hear this, you who swallow up the needy and make the poor of the land fail, saying, 'When will the new moon be passed that we may sell grain? and the Sabbath that we may trade wheat?... that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals." So the Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob that he will not forget their works. He says the land should tremble and the people mourn. In that day, the sun will go down at noon, and the earth will be darkened at broad daylight. There will be sackcloth and balding, like mourning for an only son. "'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord God, 'when I will send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.'" They will wander the earth, running to and fro seeking His word, but not find it. Virgins and strong young men will faint from thirst. They will all fall and never rise again.
Amos sees the Lord standing by the altar, and He tells him to strike the doors that the threshold might shake. The Lord will slay the people by the sword. The Lord will find them wherever they hide, and they will not escape, even from their captivity. None will not be able to escape the sword. The Lord will have it out for them, "for harm and not for good." He says, "Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt?... Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet, I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob... for surely I will command and will sift the house of Israel among all nations as grain is sifted in a sieve." He says, "All the sinners of My people will die by the sword who say, 'The calamity will not overtake or confront us.' On that day, I will raise up the tabernacle of David which has fallen down and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom. And all the Gentiles who are called by My name... Behold, the days are coming... when the plowman will overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel. They will build back the waste cities and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and drink wine from them. They will make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer will they be pulled up from the land I have given them."
Thoughts/discussion questions:
The Lord tells us to listen to the prophets that we may prosper. We must honor them as the Lord's representatives.