The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen 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.
"The words of Amos ..." Both Ecclesiastes and Jeremiah have similar beginnings; and therefore it is not necessary to attribute these words to "some later editor."  Amos was his own editor; and as Coleman observed, "The nature of the text indicates an early recording of the prophet's message."[3]  The name of Amos is not to be confused with Amoz the father of Isaiah (2 Kings 19:2,20).  Many of the Biblical books begin with, "Thus saith the Lord," the very expression which Amos used frequently in this prophecy; and this first clause of  Amos 1:1 must not be made the basis of receiving Amos' words here as in any degree other than the very message of God Himself, a fact which is categorically affirmed a moment later in the words "which he saw."  That this is true "is affirmed by the succeeding clause, `which he saw.'"[4]  Schultz and many others have also discerned this: "The divine origin of the words of the prophet is emphasized by ... `which he saw.'"[5]  In the words of the prophecy of Amos: