Amos 8:3

¹ Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

² And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

⁴ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

⁵ Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: “In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
KJV: And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
WEB: The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord GOD. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
ASV: And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah: the dead bodies shall be many: in every place shall they cast them forth with silence.
DARBY: And the songs of the palace shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah. The dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall be cast forth. Silence!
BLB: “And they will wail the songs of the temple on that day,” a declaration of the Lord YHWH. “Many a corpse in every place is strewn! Silence!”

ÅB: Palassets sanger skal bli til klageskrik på den dag, sier Herren, Israels Gud; der ligger lik i mengde, overalt kastes de til side i stillhet.
OTB: «På den dagen,» erklærer Herren Gud, «vil sangene i tempelet bli til klagesang. Mange kropper vil bli kastet overalt! Stillhet!»
B1930: Palassets sanger skal bli til klageskrik på den dag, sier Herren, Israels Gud; der ligger lik i mengde, overalt kastes de til side i stillhet.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Amos 5:23
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
Read in context
Amos 6:9–10
And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
Read in context
Jeremiah 9:21–22
For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
Read in context
Amos 5:16
Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
Read in context
Leviticus 10:3
Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
Read in context
Amos 8:10
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
Read in context
Isaiah 37:36
Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
Read in context
Zechariah 11:1–3
Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
Read in context