ABSTRACT
Amos 3 is the first of a series of passages that begin with a conventional prophetic formula: 'hear this word'. This chapter builds on the national mythology recalled in the poem against the nations and develops the theme of the prophets, silenced by Israel according to 2:12. Amos 3:7 appears to revolve around a similar motif with the prophet as the intermediary between humanity and the divine. This is a role that is imagined as requiring the physical presence of the prophet in the council of the god. In Amos 3:7, prophets are trusted with God's secret, and presumably the interchange takes place in the sacred realm symbolized by holy places on earth. Readers are drawn into the textual world while never quite becoming one of the complacent Israelites, ignorant of the signs of God's enmity, nor losing a sense of the distance between themselves and Amos.
