Walk through Amos, verse by verse, with the great Bible Commentaries of Matthew Henry (1662 - 1714) & Adam Clarke (1760 - 1832)
{And he said, The Lord shall roar from Zion, and shall give his voice from Jerusalem; and the fair things of shepherds mourned, and the top of Carmel was made dry (and the pastures of the shepherds were parched, and the top of Mount Carmel was made dry)} Wycliffe's Bible
The Lord will roar from Zion. His threatenings by his prophets, and the executions of those threatenings in his providence, will be as terrible as the roaring of a lion is to the shepherds and their flocks.
...This introduction was natural in the mouth of a herdsman who was familiar with the roaring of lions, ...The roaring of the lion in the forest is one of the most terrific sounds in nature; when near, it strikes terror into the heart of both man and beast.
Observe,
1. Whence this warning comes—from Zion and Jerusalem, from the oracles of God there delivered; for by them is they servant warned, Psalm 19:11. In Zion was the mercy-seat; thence the Lord roars, intimating that God’s acts of justice are consistent with mercy, allayed and mitigated by mercy, nay, as they are warnings, they are really acts of mercy. We are chastened, that we may be not be condemned.
2. What effect the warning has: The habitations of the shepherds mourn, either because they fear the roaring lion or because they feel what is signified by that comparison, the consequences of a great drought (Amos 4:7), which made the top of Carmel....
1:2
And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. KJV
The Lord will roar from Zion. His threatenings by his prophets, and the executions of those threatenings in his providence, will be as terrible as the roaring of a lion is to the shepherds and their flocks.
...This introduction was natural in the mouth of a herdsman who was familiar with the roaring of lions, ...The roaring of the lion in the forest is one of the most terrific sounds in nature; when near, it strikes terror into the heart of both man and beast.
Observe,
1. Whence this warning comes—from Zion and Jerusalem, from the oracles of God there delivered; for by them is they servant warned, Psalm 19:11. In Zion was the mercy-seat; thence the Lord roars, intimating that God’s acts of justice are consistent with mercy, allayed and mitigated by mercy, nay, as they are warnings, they are really acts of mercy. We are chastened, that we may be not be condemned.
2. What effect the warning has: The habitations of the shepherds mourn, either because they fear the roaring lion or because they feel what is signified by that comparison, the consequences of a great drought (Amos 4:7), which made the top of Carmel....