Amos · Memory Palace

Theme

See the outline below for the structure of this book.

Outline

Adapted from the NIV Study Bible outline via Bible Study Tools. Verses: ESV.

I. Superscription (1:1)
1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
II. Introduction to Amos's Message (1:2)
2 And he said: “The LORD roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.”
III. Oracles against the Nations, including Judah and Israel (1:3)
1. Judgment on Aram (1:3-5)
  3 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.
  
  4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
  
  5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the LORD.
2. Judgment on Philistia (1:6-8)
  6 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.
  
  7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds.
  
  8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” says the Lord GOD.
3. Judgment on Phoenicia (1:9-10)
  9 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
  
  10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds.”
4. Judgment on Edom (1:11-12)
  11 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.
  
  12 So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”
5. Judgment on Ammon (1:13-15)
  13 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.
  
  14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; 15 and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together,” says the LORD.
6. Judgment on Moab (2:1-3)
  1 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.
  
  2 So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
  
  3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the LORD.
7. Judgment on Judah (2:4-5)
  4 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked.
  
  5 So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”
8. Judgment on Israel Ruthless oppression of the poor Unbridled profanation of religion Contrasted position of the Israelites The oppressive system will perish (2:13-16)
  13 “Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down.
  
  14 Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life; 15 he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life; 16 and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day,” declares the LORD.
IV. Oracles against Israel (3:1)
1. Judgment on the Chosen People God's punishment announced The announcement vindicated The punishment vindicated (3:9-15)
  9 Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.”
  
  10 “They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD, “those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”
  
  11 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.”
  
  12 Thus says the LORD: “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.
  
  13 “Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, 14 “that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.
  
  15 I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end,” declares the LORD.
2. Judgment on an Unrepentant People Judgment on the socialites Perversion of religious life Past calamities brought no repentance No hope for a hardened people (4:12-13)
  12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
  
  13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth — the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!
3. Judgment on an Unjust People The death dirge Exhortation to life Indictment of injustices Exhortation to life Prosperity will turn to grief (5:16-17)
  16 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, 17 and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.
V. Announcements of Exile (5:18)
1. A Message of Woe against Israel's Perverted Religion (5:18-27)
  18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.
  
  20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?
  
  21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
  
  22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.
  
  23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
  
  24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
  
  25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
  
  26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god — your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.
2. A Message of Woe against Israel's Complacent Pride (6:1-7)
  1 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!
  
  2 Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory,
  
  3 O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence?
  
  4 “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
  
  7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
3. A Sworn Judgment on the Proud and Unjust Nation (6:8-14)
  8 The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”
  
  9 And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.
  
  10 And when one's relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, “Silence! We must not mention the name of the LORD.”
  
  11 For behold, the LORD commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits.
  
  12 Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood — 13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves?”
  
  14 “For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of hosts; “and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”
VI. Visions of Divine Retribution (7:1)
1. Judgment Relented A swarm of locusts A consuming fire (7:4-6)
  4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land.
  
  5 Then I said, “O Lord GOD, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”
  
  6 The LORD relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.
2. Judgment Unrelented The plumb line The vision Amos challenged and vindicated The basket of ripe fruit The vision The exposition The Lord by the altar The vision The exposition (9:5-10)
  5 The Lord GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; 6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth — the LORD is his name.
  
  7 “Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?
  
  8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD.
  
  9 “For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
  
  10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’
VII. . Restored Israel's Blessed Future (9:11-15)
1. Revival of the House of David (9:11-12)
  11 “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, 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the LORD who does this.
2. Restoration of Israel to an Edenic Promised Land (9:13-15)
  13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
  
  14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
  
  15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.