The Last Word: These are actually two separate oracles, their beginnings marked by the standard eschatological phrases, In that day and The days are coming. Elsewhere in Amos, these phrases had specific reference to the coming day of the Lord. Here they point to an indefinite eschatological future not envisioned by the prophet himself.

These two brief passages are undoubtedly the work of a later hand, and the same author is probably responsible for both. In addition, both of these oracles stem from Judah sometime in its exilic or postexilic period, for after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria in 721 BC, the northern kingdom was a thing of the past.

9:11–12 The first oracle, in verses 11–12, promises the restoration of the Davidic empire. While the meaning of “booth” (RSV; …