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“And there you eat bread, and there you prophesy,” - this is what Amaziah said to the prophet (Am. 7:12), forcing him to retire to the Jews and prophesy among them, and for prophetic service to receive food from them, as if Amos prophesied to fill the belly. Reproaching Amaziah, the prophet says: “The two of them will go together to eat, unless they know it for themselves?” ( Amos 3:3 ). If it does not happen that two people constantly walk together without some reason prompting them to unite, then why would I, Hosea, Isaiah and others begin to prophesy if we were not all prompted to do so by the word of God? This is all the more clear from the fact that although we are not in the same place, we are nevertheless doing the same thing. “Or will a lion roar from his oak grove, having no catch?” ( Amos 3:4 ). And the lion does not roar when he has no prey; and God does not speak unless what He has spoken must be fulfilled in practice. Amos says here what was said earlier: “The Lord will thunder out of Zion” (Amos 1:2), and this refers to the prophecy of Isaiah in Jerusalem. “Or will a trumpet sound in the city, and the people will not be afraid? Or will there be evil in the city, which the Lord has not created?” (Amos 3:6). Let them know that there was no such disaster in the city that the prophets had not predicted long before the event; and let not the wicked say: “Which of the prophets foretold the evil that befell this place?” Here he calls battles, captivity, various plagues and disasters evil. “The lion will roar, and who will not fear?” God speaks through the mouth of the prophets and threatens wickedness, but you are not afraid and persist in your evil will. The trumpets sound and the call to battle comes from everywhere, but you do not tremble. “The Lord is the God of the verb, and who will not prophesy?” ( Amos 3:8 ). “How can we not prophesy,” say the prophets, “when God, having revealed secrets to us, thereby teaches us that we should reveal them to you? If you think that the prophets are prophesying disasters for you out of their own invention, then leave it to them to proclaim what is in accordance with the will of God.” “Speak from the towers of Azoth, and from the towers of the lands and of Egypt, and say: gather ye all to Mount Samaria... listen and testify to the house of Jacob” (Am. 3:9, 13). Let some buildings testify against others; let the towers of Ashdod and Egypt say whether they are as filled with theft and robbery as your houses? For indeed this is what the children of Israel did: with theft and by oppressing the poor they became rich, and filled their houses with plunder. “Tightness will cover the earth” (Amos 3:11) for your luxury. And strangers will plunder your palaces, filled with the spoils of your brethren. “Like a shepherd, when he plucks out of the mouth of a lion two legs or ears that are dry, so the children of Israel who dwell in Samaria will be plucked out suddenly” (Am. 3:12), with a rod. The number of the inhabitants of Samaria will be diminished by the rod of the Assyrians, which will strike them suddenly. “And I will visit the horns of the church” (Am. 3:14), the church of Bethel, which you watered with the blood of your sacrifices, thinking that by them you would be saved. “And I will strike the winter house... with the summer house,” that is, houses of luxury and fun. “And the ivory bones of the house will perish” (Amos 3:15). The prophet is referring either to the ivory house mentioned in 1 Kings, built by Ahab (1 Kings 22:39), or to houses filled with ivory utensils. You might be interested in: