Book of Amos is also the name of a person, Amos.

Amos prophecies during a period of national optimism in Israel. Business is booming and boudaries are bulging. But below the surface, greed and injustice are festering. Hypocrytical religious motions have replaced true worship, creating a false sense of security and a growing callousness to God's disciplining hand. Famine, drought, plagues, death, destruction--nothing can force the people to their knees.

Amos, the farmer turned prophet, lashes out at sin unflinchingly, trying to visualize the nearness of God's judgement and mobilize the nation to repentance. The nation, like a basket of rotting fruit, stands ripe for judgement because of its hypocrisy and spiritual indifference.

The name Amos is derived from the Hebrew root amas, "to lift a burden, to carry." Thus, his name means "Burden" or "Burden-Bearer." Amos lives up to the meaning of his name by bearing up under his divinely given burden of declaring judgement to rebellious Israel. The Greek and Latin titles are both transliterated in English as Amos.