A Judean sheep-breeder from Tekoa, sent north — on most reckonings the EARLIEST of the writing prophets, preaching about 760 BC under Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel. ⚠ Everything about him is a mismatch. He is a southerner whose whole message is aimed at the northern kingdom; he is not a professional (7:14: 'I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son'); and he arrives at the height of northern prosperity to say it is over. His name means 'borne / carried' — nothing to do with Amoz, the father of Isaiah, whose name is spelled differently. What he actually was is argued: NOQED in 1:1 is a rare word used elsewhere only of a king who paid tribute in a hundred thousand lambs, so he may have been a man of property; but he also calls himself a cattleman and a dresser of sycamore figs, which is hired work. Amaziah, priest of Bethel, eventually reports him to the king for sedition and tells him to go home and earn his bread in Judah (7:10-13).