Amos 9:1
I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
Amos was a herdsman and fruit gardener from Tekoa in Judah who was called to prophesy to the northern kingdom at Bethel and Samaria. His prophecy was delivered during the reign of Jeroboam II just after his successes, against the idolatry and depravity of Israel and the surrounding nations. The setting was one in which prosperity had brought luxury, violence and robbery, enslavement of the poor and needy, false weights, corrupt judges, and hatred of uprightness. The prophecy teaches that justice between people is a divine foundation of society, that privilege implies responsibility and failure to recognize it brings punishment, and that nations and individuals must live up to the light given to them. It teaches that elaborate worship insults God when it is offered without conformity in will and conduct to His requirements.
The chapter portrays last-day conditions in which, after rejecting God's word, the wicked will search for it in a time of calamity but will not find it. God will save His people and rebuild David's fallen tabernacle.