Amos 8:3

3 ¹The songs of the temple^[a]2shall become wailings^[b] in that day," declares the Lord GOD. ³"So many dead bodies!" "They are thrown everywhere!" ⁴"Silence!"

Amos 8:3 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 8:3

And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day,
saith the Lord God
Not the songs sung by the Levites in the temple of Jerusalem, this prophecy respects the ten tribes only; but those in imitation of them, sung in the temple at Bethel, and other idol temples; or profane songs in the palaces of princes and nobles; that is, instead of these, there should be howlings for the calamities come upon them. So the Targum,

``they shall howl, instead of a song, in their houses then;''

particularly because of the slain in them, as follows; see ( Amos 5:23 ) ; [there shall be] many dead bodies in every place;
in all houses and palaces, in all towns and cities; and especially in Samaria, during the siege, and when taken, partly through the famine, and partly through the sword: they shall cast [them] forth with silence;
they that have the care of burying the dead bodies shall either cast them out of the houses upon the bier or cart in which they are carried to the grave, or into the pit or grave without any funeral lamentation: or, "they shall cast them forth", and say, "be silent"; that is, as Kimchi explains it,

``one of them that casts them forth shall say to his companion, be silent;''

say not one word against God and his providence, since this is righteously come upon us; or say nothing of the number of the dead, lest the hearts of those that hear should become tender, and be discouraged, as Aben Ezra; or the enemy should be encouraged to go on with the siege.

Amos 8:3 In-Context

1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

2 And he said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.

3 The songs of the templeshall become wailings in that day," declares the Lord GOD. "So many dead bodies!" "They are thrown everywhere!" "Silence!"

4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end,

5 saying, "When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,

Cross References

• 1. [Amos 5:23]
• 2. [Jeremiah 47:2]
• 3. [Amos 6:9]
• 4. [Amos 6:10; Jeremiah 16:4, 6]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or palace
• [b]. Or The singing women of the palace shall wail