The words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders of Tekoa, which he saw [in a divine revelation] 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.

Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Judah and for four (multiplied delinquencies)
I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord [the sum of God’s instruction to His people]
And have not kept His commandments;
But their lies [and their idols], after which their fathers walked,
Caused them to go astray.

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction by the Babylonians] upon Judah
And it will devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go, you seer, run for your life [from Israel] to the land of Judah [your own country] and eat bread and live as a prophet there!