Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, and Micah: The Prophets of Warning

Amos was no professional: "I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet; I am a herdsman and a tender of sycamores." From Tekoa he came to Bethel and struck at the prosperous north: they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, lie on ivory beds, and are not sickened by the ruin of Joseph. The priest of Bethel threw him out.

Hosea was given the hardest command: marry an unfaithful woman and name the children "Not-pitied" and "Not-My-people," so the nation would see its own marriage from outside. His book ends with the line read on the Sabbath of Repentance: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God."

Micah of Moresheth spoke for peasants ruined by the powerful: "He has told you, man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."

Isaiah son of Amoz began in the year Uzziah died. He saw the Throne, an angel touched his lips with a burning coal, and to "Whom shall I send?" he answered, "Here I am, send me." He confronted kings, attacked hollow piety, and gave the nation its strongest words of consolation: swords beaten into plowshares.