had heard him, had understood him. When the news that he had been
driven out of Israel spread, many followed him to Judah and
accompanied him to his home in Tekoah.

As was always the case with Amos in a crisis, he thought quickly and
arrived at a new plan of action speedily. On his way to Tekoah he
selected from among his followers men who could write--scribes--and
confided to them that from now on he must confine all his wealth to
the spreading of his ideas throughout the empire by means of the
written word.

After all, God had willed it that he should be driven back to Tekoah.
Amos, as a speaker, could address a crowd only in one place at one
time. In listening to a speech, too, much of what the speaker says is
lost to his hearers. Therefore, Amos concluded, God had willed it that
he should return to Tekoah, write out his speeches and his warnings,
send them to the farthest ends of the land that all the people may
read and study and understand in order that they may return speedily
to God; seek good and not evil, that the nation may live.

By day, he and his followers tended the flocks and gathered the fruit
of sycamore trees. All the products that were sent to market were sold
by honest weight and measure and at honest prices.

By night, he and his scribes wrote out the speeches that he had
delivered in Israel, and especially in Bethel, added new ones and sent
them with trusted messengers to all parts of Judah and Israel.

Amos was thus probably the first prophet who wrote down his speeches.
What we have of them, however, are only fragments. There is not one