Honorable people are called the righteous. They lived in right relationship with God and with other people. When this word appears alongside poor, it describes the righteous needy, people who were both faithful and poor.
The law given through Moses urged those who had enough to help those in need by lending freely (Deuteronomy 15:7–11). As a last option, people who could not repay their debts could become bond servants. They would repay what they owed through their work (Leviticus 25:39–43).
In Amos’s time, these righteous needy were sold into bond service for a pair of sandals. This phrase is an exaggeration that shows how small the debt was (see Amos 8:6). The sandals may have been given as a pledge for the debt or used as a sign to confirm the agreement (see Ruth 4:7).