1: 3-5 gives God's judgement on the people of Damascus, in Syria, for savage cruelty to the people of Gilead in the area of Israel beyond the river Jordan, during a military campaign.

1:6-8 gives God's judgement on the people of Philistia for capturing others and selling them into slavery. Exodus 21: 16 condemns this kind of behaviour.

1: 9-10 gives God's judgement on the people of Tyre for violating a covenant treaty which they had made with another nation.

1: 11-12 gives God's judgement on the people of Edom who had behaved without mercy to some of the Israelites, probably some of the people of Judah who shared a common border with Edom. The Edomites were said to be descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob, and were therefore considered to be linked by kinship with the Israelites.

1: 13-15 gives God's judgement on the people of Ammon who had also attacked the area of Gilead in Israel and who had behaved very brutally.

2: 1-3 gives God's judgement on the people of Moab who had desecrated the dead body of an enemy king. This was considered a very barbarous thing to do.

In these six prophetic utterances, or oracles, we notice that only three are related to cruelty and injustice towards Israelites by other nations. In the other three oracles, against Philistia, Tyre and Moab, the victims were not named as Israelites, but Amos applies the, same standards to situations involving two nations other than Israel or Judah, as he does to Israel and Judah. Amos maintains, in these oracles, that the moral claims of God are the same for all nations. Cruelty, injustice and ruthless exploitation are the same, whichever nation commits these evils.

There is no explicit reference in the book of Amos to the giving of the Covenant Law but there are references to the events of the Exodus in 2: 10, 3: 1,4: 10, 5: 25 and 9: 7. What Amos says, not only in the oracles against other nations but in all his utterances, presupposes his stand for the covenant way of life, the principles of which are set out in the Ten Commandments. Loving respect for the one God and loving respect for one's fellow-men are the two guiding principles for all behaviour. In their cruelty, injustice and exploitation towards others, each of the nations which comes under the judgement of God has offended God and hated their fellow-men.