It has been *said that studying and teaching the Bible involves bridging a chasm between two worlds. One side of the chasm is the Bible with its audience and their cultural, historical context. On the other side is the audience of today with its own context. The challenge in understanding the Bible is not only being able to comprehend the words on the page but to understand what those words meant to ‘them and then’ in order to understand what it should mean for ‘us and now’.

To help bridge the gap, the below information has been compiled to provide you with a guide as you read through the prophet Amos. A downloadable pdf version of this study guide is available below.

*This idea was posed by John R. W. Stott in his book Between Two Worlds (1982).

People/Places Mentioned in Amos 

Items organized chronologically by verse reference (1:1 - 9:15).

1. Tekoa (1:1) - a village in Judah.
2. Uzziah (1:1) - King of Judah. Also known as Azariah (see 2 Kings 15:1, 15:13, 15:30; 2 Chronicles 26:1)
3. Judah (1:1, 2:4-5, 7:12) - the divided southern kingdom of Israel, composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (see 1 Kings 12).
4. Jeroboam (1:1, 7:11) - King of *Israel. Also known as Jeroboam II (see 2 Kings. 14:23)
5. *Israel, house of (1:1, 2:6, 2:11, 3:1, 3:12, 3:14, 4:5, 4:12, 5:1-4, 5:25, 6:1, 6:14, 7:8-11, 7:15-17, 8:1, 9:7, 9:9, 9:14) - the divided northern kingdom, composed of ten tribes of Israel (see 1 Kings 12).
6. Zion (1:2, 6:1) - Common name in the OT of Jerusalem
7. Jerusalem (1:2) - Capital of Judah. Place of worship for God’s people (temple built there).
8. Carmel (1:2, 9:3) - referring to one of two places in Israel called Carmel.
9. Damascus (1:3) - capital of Syria (also known as Aram).
10. Syria (1:5, 9:7) - people group northeast of Israel. Also known as Aram.
11. Gilead (1:3, 1:13) - region in Israel.
12. Hazeal (1:4) - king of Syria/Aram.
13. Ben-Hadad (1:4) - king of Syria/Aram. Son of Hazeal.
14. Aven (1:5) - region north of Damascus.
15. Beth-Eden (1:5) - region in Syria/Aram.
16. Kir (1:5, 9:7) - place of Syrian exile far northeast of Syria.
17. Gaza (1:6) - city of the Philistines.
18. Edom (1:6, 1:9, 1:11, 2:1, 9:12) - people group south of Judah. Descendents of Esau (see Gen 25).
19. Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron (1:8, 3:9) - cities of the Philistines.
20. Philistines (1:8, 9:7) - a people group southwest of Judah on the Mediterranean.
21. Tyre (1:9) - city northwest of Israel (region of Phoenicia) on the Mediterranean.
22. Teman (1:12) - Edomite city.
23. Bozrah (1:12) - capital of Edom.
24. Ammonites (1:13) - people group east of Israel. 
25. Rabbah (1:14) - Ammonite city.
26. Moab (2:1) - a people group east of Judah.
27. Kerioth (2:2) - Moabite city.
28. Amorite (2:9) - people group who oppressed Israel during her wilderness journey (see Numbers 21:21-25).
29. Egypt (2:10, 3:1, 3:9, 4:10, 8:8, 9:5, 9:7) - a regional power. Historic place where Israel was rescued by God from slavery.
30. Nazirite (2:11-12) - a person who was set apart for God’s service (see Numbers 6:2) (Samuel and Samson were Nazirites).
31. Samaria (3:9, 3:12, 4:1, 6:1, 8:14) - capital of Israel.
32. Jacob (3:13, 6:8, 7:2, 7:5, 8:7, 9:8) - another name for the people of Israel. Jacob (whose name was changed to “Israel”) was a patriarch of Israel.
33. Bethel (3:14, 4:4, 5:5-6, 7:10, 7:13) - city in Israel. A primary false worship site for Israel.
34. Bashan (4:1) - fertile region east of the Jordan river Israel. In context “cows of Bashan” refers to privileged women in Samaria who are accused of oppressing the poor along with privileged men (note from McComiskey’s The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary).
35. Harmon (4:3) - meaning uncertain. An unknown region of exile for the elite oppressors of Samaria.
36. Gilgal (4:4, 5:5) - city in Israel. A primary false worship site for Israel.
37. Sodom and Gomorrah (4:11) - historic cities which God destroyed for their acts of evil (see Genesis 18).
38. Beer-Sheba (5:5, 8:14) - city in Judah. Place of idol worship in Judah.
39. Joseph (5:6, 5:15, 6:6) - historic son of Jacob (“Israel”), whose sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, became tribes in Israel. Bethel (Ephraim) and Gilgal (Manasseh) were located in these tribal allotments in Israel.
40. Sikkuth & Kiyyun (5:25) - false deities.
41. Calneh & Hamath (6:2) - cities in Syria/Aram.
42. Gath (6:2) - city of the Philistines.
43. David (6:5, 9:11) - historic the greatest king of the united Israel. The one whom God promised to establish a forever kingdom through (see 2 Samuel 7).
44. Lo-Debar and Karnaim (6:13) - cities in Gilead, a region in Israel.
45. Lebo-hamath and Brook of the Arabah (6:14) - geographically these are respectively the northern and southern boundaries of Israel.
46. Amaziah (7:10-14) - a priest in Bethel (city where false worship happened in Israel).
47. Nile (8:8, 9:5) - river in Egypt.
48. Dan (8:14) - city (and tribe) of Israel in the far north. Place of worship.
49. Sheol (9:2) - term that refers to death (the place where the dead go).
50. Cushites (9:7) - Cush was the son of Ham (a son of Noah) (Genesis 10:6), who settled in Ethiopia.
51. Caphtor (9:7) - may refer to modern Crete.

*Unless otherwise noted, “Israel” in this document refers to the divided Northern Kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes which followed Jeroboam (Jeroboam I) and split from King Rehoboam (see 1 Kings 12).

Kings of Israel (Northern Kingdom)

Capital: Samaria (at one time the capital was Shechem (1 Kings 12:25) and then Tirzah (1 Kings 14:17)).

The following chart can be found at: https://www.esv.org/resources/esv-global-study-bible/chart-11-03b/

* This chart follows the dating method found in both Kings and Chronicles: For Israel, accession to the throne is marked by a year within the reign of a king of Judah. Parentheses—e.g., 21 (22)—indicate non-accession year dating (year of accession is counted in the totals of both the predecessor and the new king). The actual number of years in a reign can be determined by subtracting 1 from the number given (22 – 1 = 21 actual years).

**The verses cited in 1–2 Kings do not include the initial mention of a ruler when it occurs in reference to the death of his father (e.g., Nadab in 1 Kings 14:20).

***See note on 2 Kings 15:27–31.

Kings of Judah (Southern Kingdom)

Capital: Jerusalem

The following chart can be found at: https://www.esv.org/resources/esv-global-study-bible/chart-11-03a/

*This chart follows the dating method found in both Kings and Chronicles: For Judah, accession to the throne is marked by a year within the reign of a king of Israel. Parentheses—e.g., 39 (40)—indicate non-accession year dating (year of accession is counted in the totals of both the predecessor and the new king). The actual number of years in a reign can be determined by subtracting 1 from the number given (40 – 1 = 39 actual years).

**The verses cited in 1–2 Kings do not include the initial mention of a ruler, which occurs in reference to the death of his father (e.g., Abijam in 1 Kings 14:31).