Amos 8:3

3 "On that day the palace songs will become funeral songs," says the Lord God. "There will be dead bodies thrown everywhere! 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: a basket of summer fruit.

2 He said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "An endn has come for my people Israel, because I will not overlook their sins anymore.

3 "On that day the palace songs will become funeral songs," says the Lord God. "There will be dead bodies thrown everywhere! Silence!"

4 Listen to me, you who walk on helpless people, you who are trying to destroy the poor people of this country, saying,

5 "When will the New Moon festival be over so we can sell grain? so we can bring out wheat to sell? We can charge them more and give them less, and we can change the scales to cheat the people.