1: 2 is an introduction to all that Amos says during his ministry, whether to other nations, Judah or Israel. It can be linked with his call to be a prophet while he was still a shepherd in Judah, and with such utterances as 3 : 4 and 3 : 8 in which Yahweh is compared by the prophet to the most terrifying creature of the Judean desert, the lion whose roar strikes fear into the heart of anyone who hears it. The prophet is the herald of the God of the whole people who claim to worship him, whether in the south or in the north; to God there are no political boundaries. The voice of God 'roars' out from the south to the north, bringing devastation to the land which rejects him.