According to Austin et al. (2000), Samaria, the capital city of the Northern Kingdom may have suffered damage during the mid-8th-century BCE earthquake traditionally associated with the prophet Amos. They cite a statement attributed to Yadin et al. (1960:36) claiming that traces of this earthquake were found at Samaria. However, no such reference can be located in the cited pages or in related reports (Yadin et al. 1958; 1960; 1961). Austin and colleagues themselves acknowledge that no detailed excavation report for the relevant period at Samaria-Sebaste had yet been published, leaving the archaeological basis for such a claim uncertain.

In place of firm excavation data, Austin et al. appeal to biblical passages (Amos, Isiah, and Hebrews) to argue for earthquake destruction. They suggest that Amos 3:11, Amos 4:3, and Amos 6:11 describe the damage suffered by Samaria. Yet these passages are framed as prophetic warnings rather than eyewitness descriptions of a seismic event. They speak of enemies, breaches, and smashed houses, but do not mention shaking or other physical effects typically associated with earthquakes in biblical texts. They can therefore be read more naturally as predictions of military destruction or divine punishment, not as literal earthquake reports.

The passage in Isaiah 9:9–10 presents an image of structural collapse: “Bricks have fallen—We’ll rebuild with dressed stone.” Some researchers, such as Austin et al., interpret this as a reference to damage caused by the mid-8th-century BCE Amos earthquake, followed by rebuilding in stronger materials. Because the verse describes the failure of mudbrick construction and its replacement with cut stone, it can plausibly be read as reflecting seismic destruction.

However, in its literary and historical context, the passage can also be interpreted as referring to military devastation in the northern kingdom, possibly during the Aramean and Assyrian conflicts of the 8th century BCE. Roberts (2015:161), for example, notes that “from the metaphorical language used, it is difficult to know precisely to what historical events Isaiah may be referring,” and suggests that the rebuilding may reflect the mid-8th-century BCE Amos earthquake or military activity and civil unrest.

Austin et al. also cite Hebrews 9:8–9 as part of their discussion, but this passage does not describe any destruction, rebuilding, or historical event. Instead, it presents a theological interpretation of the tabernacle system, explaining that the Holy Spirit was indicating the temporary nature of the first sanctuary and its rituals. The text belongs to a much later New Testament context and serves as a symbolic argument about sacrifice and access to the divine, not as a historical reference to conditions in the northern kingdom. Unlike the prophetic passages in Amos or Isaiah, it contains no imagery of structural collapse or enemy attack, and therefore provides no support for earthquake damage connected with the mid-8th-century BCE Amos event.

Taken together, the cited texts do not clearly attest to earthquake destruction at Samaria. The Amos passages are prophetic oracles, and the Isaiah passage appears to refer to rebuilding after conflict with neighboring states or an earthquake. Without secure archaeological evidence from Samaria itself, the claim that these verses document damage from the ~760 BCE Amos earthquake remains speculative.