Our current section provides some qualitatively new material to contend with. Breaking from the textually dominant rebuking speech, a series of four prophetic visions comprises the bulk of this section. A short narrative offers the only recorded portrayal of Amos directly interacting with his audience, inserted between the third and fourth visions. The entire section is remarkably illustrative of the Prophet’s self-perspective as well as the dynamic between prophet and audience...

The speech opens with a delineation of its primary target, the religious aristocracy — in all likelihood the wealthy class of priests running the Northern temples. The masses in v1b depend on these priests, who hold a corrupt monopoly on what is societally perceived as indispensable religious ritual. In v2 the Navi sardonically asks these overconfident leaders whether their nation is any greater than their neighbors...

This short piece comprises the first of two “הוֹי” (“Woe unto…”) sections which follow the kinah of 5:1-17, centering around a theme already initiated in 5:13-14, the nation’s mistaken premise that God remains a dependable ally, re-introduced in v18-20. This transitions into v21-25 which discuss ritual temple practice in a particularly interesting and nuanced way, following which v26-27 concludes with foretold consequences...