As Amos pondered the situation that prevailed in northern Israel, he began to have dreams and visions, three of which he recorded. In one of them, Amos sees a man with a plumb line measuring a wall that is about to fall. The man is told that the bulging wall is none other than the house of Israel: Just as a wall of this kind will soon collapse, so the nation that it represents will surely go into captivity. In a second vision, Amos sees a basket of summer fruit that represents the people of Israel, whose material prosperity is like the fully ripe fruit. But ripe fruit lasts only a little while and then rots and decays. So the peaceful years of the Israelite nation are about to come to an end. The third vision is one in which Amos sees a swarm of locusts about to devour the produce of the land. This vision is also interpreted as a warning of the evil days that lie ahead.
After a time, Amos reaches the point where he can no longer keep quiet about his dreams. Addressing a group of people who have gathered at the place of worship known as the Bethel sanctuary, he declares that Yahweh has this to say to them:
I hate, I despise your feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. . . . Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
Amos' statements are daring for him to make because they directly challenge the generally accepted religious practices of his time. Strong opposition to Amos developed at once when Amaziah, a priest, sent word to King Jeroboam that Amos was a dangerous character and should be expelled from the land. Although Amos insisted that he spoke only the words that Yahweh told him to proclaim, Amaziah told him to leave the country and never to prophesy again in the land of Israel.
