Amos Bible Trivia: 22 Questions and Answers for Families

These 22 Amos Bible trivia questions cover the shepherd whom God pulled from his flocks to confront a comfortable kingdom -- with answers and verse references after every question. They're sorted into easy, medium, and hard rounds so kids, teens, and adults can all play.

Amos is the Bible's great underdog prophet: no training, no famous father, just a farmer from a small town with a message that still echoes -- "let justice roll on like a river" (Amos 5:24), the verse Martin Luther King Jr. made famous. The hard round below will test even the adults at your table.

What Is the Book of Amos About?

Amos is the message of a shepherd from Tekoa whom God sent north to tell prosperous Israel that wealth built on injustice was about to collapse. Amos prophesied around the 750s BC, "two years before the earthquake," when Uzziah ruled Judah and Jeroboam II ruled Israel (Amos 1:1). Israel's economy was booming, its worship services were packed -- and its poor were being crushed, which Amos said made all that worship worthless to God.

His core demand is the book's famous line: "Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" (Amos 5:24). Israel didn't listen, and within a few decades Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom -- the story we tell in the northern kingdom falls for kids. Yet Amos ends with hope: God will restore "David's fallen shelter" (Amos 9:11).

Easy Amos Trivia Questions (Ages 5-8)

1. What was Amos's job before God called him? A shepherd (Amos 1:1)
2. What town was Amos from? Tekoa (Amos 1:1)
3. Which kingdom did God send Amos to preach to? The northern kingdom, Israel (Amos 7:15)
4. According to Amos's most famous verse, what should "roll on like a river"? Justice (Amos 5:24)
5. Was Amos a trained, professional prophet? No -- he said, "I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet" (Amos 7:14)
6. How many chapters does Amos have? Nine (Amos 1-9)
7. Besides sheep, what trees did Amos take care of? Sycamore-fig trees (Amos 7:14)

Medium Amos Trivia Questions (Ages 9-12)

1. What phrase does Amos repeat as he calls out nation after nation in chapters 1-2? "For three sins... even for four" (Amos 1:3, 6, 9)
2. What builder's tool did God show Amos in a vision, to measure how crooked Israel had become? A plumb line (Amos 7:7-8)
3. What did the basket of ripe fruit in Amos's vision mean? "The time is ripe" -- Israel was ripe for judgment (Amos 8:1-2)
4. Which priest of Bethel told Amos to go home and stop prophesying? Amaziah (Amos 7:10-13)
5. Which two kings were reigning when Amos prophesied? Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam (II) in Israel (Amos 1:1)
6. Complete Amos 3:3: "Do two walk together unless they have..." "...agreed to do so?" (Amos 3:3)
7. Amos 8:11 warns of a strange kind of famine. A famine of what? Of hearing the words of the LORD (Amos 8:11)
8. What unflattering nickname does Amos give the wealthy women of Samaria? "Cows of Bashan" (Amos 4:1)

Hard Amos Trivia Questions (Teens and Adults)

1. Amos prayed and God relented after which two judgment visions? The locust swarm and the fire (Amos 7:1-6)
2. What does God promise to restore in Amos 9:11? "David's fallen shelter" (tent/booth) (Amos 9:11)
3. Who quotes that promise at the Jerusalem Council in the New Testament? James, in Acts 15:16-17 (Acts 15:13-17)
4. What shocking thing does God say about Israel's religious festivals and songs in Amos 5:21-23? He hates and despises them -- worship without justice disgusts him (Amos 5:21-23)
5. Which civil rights leader famously quoted Amos 5:24 in the "I Have a Dream" speech? Martin Luther King Jr.
6. What does the name Amos likely mean in Hebrew? "Burden" or "burden-bearer"
7. What sobering warning does Amos 4:12 give Israel? "Prepare to meet your God, Israel" (Amos 4:12)

Why Does Amos Matter for Kids?

Because it answers a question kids ask early: does God care how we treat people, or just whether we go to church? Amos's answer is blunt -- God rejected Israel's packed worship services because the same people were cheating the poor (Amos 5:21-24; 8:4-6). For a child, that translates simply: being kind and fair on Tuesday matters to God as much as singing on Sunday.

Amos is also proof that God uses ordinary people. He wasn't a priest or a professional prophet -- he was a farmer who obeyed when God said "Go" (Amos 7:14-15). That makes him one of the best role models in the Minor Prophets for kids who feel too small or too ordinary. Our video lessons at Faithful Kids bring this era of divided-kingdom Israel to life with short animated episodes and a quiz after each one.

What Are the Five Visions of Amos?

Chapters 7-9 give Amos five visions, and they make a memorable mini-lesson because the sequence itself tells a story:

1. Locusts (Amos 7:1-3) -- a swarm devours the land; Amos begs "forgive!" and God relents.
2. Fire (Amos 7:4-6) -- fire consumes the land; Amos pleads again, and again God relents.
3. The plumb line (Amos 7:7-9) -- God holds a builder's string against Israel's crooked wall; this time there's no reprieve.
4. The basket of ripe fruit (Amos 8:1-2) -- a wordplay in Hebrew: the fruit is ripe, and so is the time for judgment.
5. The Lord by the altar (Amos 9:1) -- judgment begins at the very place Israel thought guaranteed safety.

Notice the turn: twice the prophet's prayer holds back judgment, which teaches kids that intercession matters -- Amos prayed for the very people he was rebuking. But a wall can only lean so far from the plumb line before it has to come down. It's an object lesson you can run at the kitchen table with a piece of string and a washer: hold it against something crooked and let kids see instantly what God showed Amos.

And even then, the book refuses to end at the falling wall -- the final verses promise rebuilt cities, replanted vineyards, and "David's fallen shelter" restored (Amos 9:11-15).

How to Use These Questions

Lead with the underdog story -- a farmer versus a kingdom -- and the questions become a narrative instead of a list. The easy round works from about age six once kids hear the setup; the medium round fits Sunday school review of the divided kingdom; and the hard round's history hooks (the earthquake, MLK, the Jerusalem Council) make it a genuinely fun teen challenge. For team formats and scorekeeping, use our family Bible trivia night guide.

Teens who breeze through can graduate to our Bible trivia for teens, and the whole family can keep going with Old Testament trivia for kids or the full 100 Bible trivia questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the book of Amos?

The prophet Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa (a village near Bethlehem in Judah) who also tended sycamore-fig trees. He insisted he was not a professional prophet -- "I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet... but the LORD took me from tending the flock" (Amos 7:14-15).

How many chapters does Amos have?

Amos has 9 chapters. The shape is easy to teach: chapters 1-2 pronounce judgment on the nations (ending with Israel itself), chapters 3-6 preach against Israel's injustice, and chapters 7-9 record five visions plus a closing promise of restoration.

What is the most famous verse in Amos?

Amos 5:24 -- "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" Martin Luther King Jr. quoted it in his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, making it one of the most recognized prophetic lines in the world.

When did Amos prophesy?

Around 760-750 BC, during the reigns of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel -- the book dates itself "two years before the earthquake" (Amos 1:1), a quake so memorable that Zechariah still referenced it centuries later (Zechariah 14:5). Roughly forty years after Amos, the northern kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 BC.

What is the main message of Amos?

That God requires justice, and religious activity can't substitute for it. Israel was wealthy and outwardly devout, but because it exploited the poor, God rejected its worship (Amos 5:21-24) -- while still promising future restoration through David's line (Amos 9:11-15).

What age can kids start learning Amos?

Ages 6-8 can grasp the story of a brave farmer who told the truth to a whole kingdom, and ages 10 and up can dig into the justice themes and visions. Amos 5:24 is an excellent first memory verse, and the plumb line vision (Amos 7:7-8) makes a great hands-on lesson with a piece of string and a weight.