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.
"Two years before the earthquake ..." By Amos' mention of this earthquake's occurrence two years after his prophecy shows that he was not executed in Israel, as some suppose, but that he lived to return to Tekoah, and to see the divine confirmation of the truth of his prophecy in the devastation of the great earthquake.  Deane was correct, it appears, in his opinion that Amos here alluded to it, "as a token of the judgment which he foretold, such catastrophes being regarded as signs ...  of God and his vengence upon sinners."[7]