His home was the town of Tekoa, some 16 km (10 mi) S of Jerusalem, at an elevation of about 820 m (2,700 ft). To the E, and sloping toward the Dead Sea, which lay about 1,200 m (4,000 ft) below, was the bleak wilderness of Judah, where, in his early life, the prophet found employment as a humble sheep raiser. (Am 1:1) The Hebrew word no·qedhimʹ here translated “sheep raisers” occurs in only one other place in the Bible (2Ki 3:4) and is related to naqqad, the Arabic word for a special breed of sheep, rather unattractive but highly valued for its fleece. Out in that wild country Amos also engaged in menial seasonal work as a nipper of sycamore figs, a variety considered food only for the poor. The practice of pinching or puncturing the figs was to hasten the ripening and increase the size and sweetness of the fruit.​—Am 7:14; see SYCAMORE.

Amos began his career as a prophet two years before the great earthquake that occurred during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah. At the same time Jeroboam II, son of Joash, was king of Israel. (Am 1:1) Amos’ prophecy is, therefore, placed sometime within the 26-year period from 829 to about 804 B.C.E., when the reigns of these two kings of Judah and Israel overlapped. The great earthquake that occurred two years after Amos was commissioned to be a prophet was of such magnitude that nearly 300 years later Zechariah made particular mention of it.​—Zec 14:5.