Amos 8:3

Heilögum Biblíunni

3 Og musterissöngmeyjarnar skulu kveina á þeim degi - segir Drottinn Guð .- Líkin eru mörg. Alls staðar fleygja menn þeim út í kyrrþey!"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the songs: Amos 8:10, Amos 5:23, Hosea 10:5, Hosea 10:6, Joel 1:5, Joel 1:11, Joel 1:13, Zechariah 11:1-3

shall be howlings: Heb. shall howl

many: Amos 4:10, Isaiah 37:36, Jeremiah 9:21, Jeremiah 9:22, Nahum 3:3

they shall: Amos 6:9, Amos 6:10, Jeremiah 22:18

with silence: Heb. be silent, Leviticus 10:3, Psalms 39:9

Reciprocal: Psalms 137:4 - How shall Ecclesiastes 3:7 - time to keep Isaiah 24:9 - General Lamentations 2:10 - and keep Ezekiel 24:17 - Forbear to cry Hosea 2:11 - her feast Hosea 7:14 - when Hosea 8:1 - the house Amos 6:5 - like Zephaniah 1:10 - the noise

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The songs of the temple shall be howlings - Literally, “shall howl.” It shall be, as when mirthful music is suddenly broken in upon, and, through the sudden agony of the singer, ends in a shriek or yell of misery. When sounds of joy are turned into wailing, all must be complete sorrow. They are not hushed only, but are turned into their opposite. Since Amos is speaking to, and of, Israel, “the temple” is, doubtless, here the great idol-temple at Bethel, and “the songs” were the choral music, with which they counterfeited the temple-music, as arranged by David, praising (they could not make up their minds which,) Nature or “the God of nature,” but, in truth, worshiping the creature. The temple was often strongly built and on a height, and, whether from a vague hope of help from God, (as in the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans,) or from some human trust, that the temple might be respected, or from confidence in its strength, or from all together, was the last refuge of the all-but-captive people. Their last retreat was often the scene of the last reeling strife, the battle-cry of the assailants, the shrieks of the defenseless, the groans of the wounded, the agonized cry of unyielding despair. Some such scene the prophet probably had before his mind’s eye, for he adds;

There shall be “many dead bodies,” literally, “Many the corpse in every place.” He sees it, not as future, but before him. The whole city, now so thronged with life, “the oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,” lies before him as one scene of death; every place thronged with corpses; none exempt; at home, abroad, or, which he had just spoken of, the temple; no time, no place for honorable burial. “They,” literally, “he casts forth, hush!” Each casts forth those dear to him, as “dung on the face of the earth” (Jeremiah 8:2, etc.). Grief is too strong for words. Living and dead are hushed as the grave. “Large cities are large solitudes,” for want of mutual love; in God’s retribution, all their din and hum becomes anew a solitude.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Amos 8:3. The songs of the temple — Instead of שירות shiroth, songs, Houbigant reads שורות shoroth, the singing women; and Newcome follows him: "And the singing women of the palace shall howl in that day." Instead of joyous songs, they shall have nothing but lamentation.

They shall cast them forth with silence. — Every place shall be filled with the dead, and a dreadful silence shall reign universally; the few that remain being afraid either to speak or complain, or even to chant a funeral dirge for the most respectable of the dead.