Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, behold, it was the latter growth after the king's harvest.
In the light of this, which can hardly be denied, it is deplorable that the RSV accommodated the critics by printing this chapter as a poem into which a prose narrative had been inserted.  As a matter of obvious truth, the chapter is a unit, being composed by one of Amos' extended public sermons at the shrine of Bethel, a sermon long enough for Amaziah to send a message to the king, and then attempt upon his own authority to expel the prophet.  And what was the result of this interruption?  Amos finished his sermon, including a special prophecy for Amaziah!  The wild speculations to the effect that Amos was arrested and executed, or that, "He left under protest, for Judah,"[4] or that, "Amos appeared no more as a prophet in the Northern Kingdom,"[5] are unsupported by any evidence.  The known sequel to this confrontation between God's Prophet and the King's Priest is that Amos went right on and gave the other two of the five visions that composed his sermon.