Amos prophesied in the same time period as Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. When the people of the Northern Kingdom had lost their core social values, Amos reminded them to care for the poor and needy, women, and orphans, before the day when the Lord would come and judge them for their iniquities. Though Amos was wealthy, he was especially sympathetic to the plight of the working-class farmers who found themselves paying full tribute to the ruling functionaries in the capital and to the shrine at the Samarian city of Bethel, even when suffering from drought, plague and famine. They were compelled to take out heavy loans to continue farming, and their clothes and their children were taken as pledges to secure their debts.
