Amos justifies his prophetic ministry by establishing that true prophecy is compulsory response to divine speech, not voluntary career choice. By framing this as a question, he shifts burden of proof to critics; they must now explain how anyone could resist proclaiming what God has revealed. The interrogative form transforms defense into offense.

The text records no verbal response. The rhetorical structure demands mental assent, the answer ‘no one can resist’ stands as self-evident truth that validates Amos’s entire prophetic ministry without requiring explicit acknowledgment.

This question climaxes Amos’s series of cause-and-effect rhetorical questions, applying natural inevitability to prophetic vocation. The Hebrew construction ‘who can not prophesy’ uses double negative for emphatic force, literally ‘who is able to cease from prophesying?’ Amos defends not his right to prophesy but his inability to refrain. The Lord GOD, Adonai Yahweh, represents God’s self-revelation in covenant relationship with Israel, making his speech not merely powerful but personally binding. By asking rather than declaring his compulsion, Amos invites hearers to recognize their own experience: genuine encounter with divine truth creates irresistible impulse to proclaim it. The question distinguishes true prophecy from false: genuine prophets speak because they must, false prophets because they choose.