PREFACE The book of Amos, consisting of just nine chapters, is widely considered to be a catalogue of social justice policies and of divine judgements. It is not only a litany of condemnations of injustices and iniquities, and also of false pieties, practised by Israel, but it is ultimately a message of hope. As Amos' mission is first and foremost to exhort, communication is necessarily involved. The communicative elements in the book, both internal and external, are of considerable interest

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... oughout, with the utterances of the Lord being especially significant. Undertaking my PhD at Tilburg University, I have completed a text-linguistic analysis of the development of the communication in the book of Amos with a special focus on the role of the Lord and its implications for the text-immanent reader. I wish to acknowledge the valuable contributions of the many people who supported me in bringing this work to fruition.