Amos 8:3 - Exposition

The songs of the temple; Septuagint, τὰ φατνώματα τοῦ ναοῦ , "the pannels of the temple;" Vulgate, cardines templi. These versions point to a different reading. It is better rendered, "the songs of the palace," referring to the songs of the revellers mentioned already ( Amos 6:5 ). These shall be changed into howlings of lamentation for the dead which lie around (comp. Amos 8:10 ). There shall be many dead bodies . The Hebrew is more forcible: "Many the corpses: in every place he hath cast them forth. Hush!" The Lord is represented as casting dead bodies to the ground, so that death is everywhere; and the interjection "hush!" (comp. Amos 6:10 ) is an admonition to bend beneath the hand of an avenging God (comp. Zephaniah 1:7 ). Orelli takes it as an expression of the apathy that accompanies severe and irremediable suffering—suffering too deep for words. The Greek and Latin versions take this onomatopoetic word has! "hush!" as a substantive. Thus the Septuagint, ἐπιῤῥίψω σιωπήν , "I will cast upon them silence;" Vulgate, projicietur silentium— an expressive rendering, but one not supported by grammatical considerations.