Amos 8:10

Amo 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.

Ver. 10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning] Whether your idolatrous feasts and templemusic, whereby you vainly conceit to be secured from danger, saying, "Is not the Lord among us? what evil can come unto us?" or your common feasts, whereat you have songs to cheer you up, and so to put sorrow from your hearts and evil from your flesh, nourishing yourselves as in a day of slaughter or good cheer, Jas 5:5; all shall be turned into mourning, funeral mourning, see Amo 8:3.

And I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins] For a token of your great grief, as the custom then was, and is still for mourning weeds. The Hebrew word sack is the same in almost all languages; which showeth that the Hebrew is the mother of all the rest, saith Mercer.

And baldness upon every head] You shall pull off your hair for grief; or, because they had learned of the heathens, their neighbours, in token of lamentation, to shave their heads, Eze 7:18 Jer 48:37, and beards too, Isa 15:2, which yet was forbidden them to do, Lev 19:27; Lev 21:9, unless it were to show their sorrow for sin, Isa 22:12.

And I will make it as the mourning of an only son] Which was very bitter, Jer 6:26 Zec 12:10. The loss of a loving yoke fellow is more grievous than that of a son; but to father and mother together nothing more bitter than luctuosa faecunditas (Laeta’s case in Jerome), to bury many children, and especially to bury all in one.

And the end thereof as a bitter day] Thereof, that is, either of that land or of that lamentation there shall be bitterness in the end. So the poet (Tibul. lib. 2),

“ Nunc et amara dies, et noctis amarior umbra est;

Omnia iam tristi tempera felle madent. ”

How could it be otherwise than extreme bitter with this people, when heaven and earth conspired to punish them? neither had they the good word of God (called the word of his patience, Rev 3:10, written on purpose that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope, Rom 15:4, that out of those breasts of consolation we might suck and be satisfied, Isa 66:11), to help them and keep from swooning, Psa 119:92. And this was the greatest plague of all the rest; and is therefore reserved to the last place, deterrima tanquam colophon, as a most sad catastrophe.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Amo 8:10. I will turn your feasts into mourning — God commanded the Jews to celebrate their festivals with joy and gladness; but this it would be impossible for them to do under such melancholy circumstances and manifestations of the divine displeasure. And all your songs into lamentation — The particular psalms and hymns which used to be sung at the great festivals are here alluded to. And I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins — All sorts of persons shall put on mourning. And baldness upon every head — Shaving the head and beard was a sign of the greatest sadness. I will make it as the mourning, rather, as in the mourning of [or for] an only son — That is, a most heavy mourning; for the death of an only son generally occasions the severest grief; and the end thereof as a bitter day — A sorrowful day, which you shall wish you had never seen, shall succeed your dark night. In other words, the calamities shall increase more and more; so that the last part of these grievous times shall be far more distressing than any that had preceded. This undoubtedly was the case, as the carrying them into captivity would occasion a separation of friends from friends, children from parents, wives from husbands, than which it is not easy to conceive any thing more deplorable.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

baldness--a sign of mourning (Isa 15:2; Jer 48:37; Eze 7:18).

I will make it as . . . mourning of an only son--"it," that is, "the earth" (Amo 8:9). I will reduce the land to such a state that there shall be the same occasion for mourning as when parents mourn for an only son (Jer 6:26; Zac 12:10).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. I will turn your feasts into mourning] See on Am 8:3.

A bitter day.] A time of grievous calamity.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Prophet pursues the same subject; but he omits the figurative mode which he had before adopted. He therefore denounces vengeance more openly, — that God would turn their festal-days into mourning, and their songs into lamentation. This was designedly mentioned; for the Israelites, we know, flattered themselves on account of their ceremonies by which at the same time they more and more provoked God’s displeasure: for the worship of God, which they pretended to perform, was mere superstition, and was therefore a profanation of true religion. Though then they thus brought on themselves God’s judgment by their wicked ceremonies, they yet thought that they were sufficiently disguised; for as Jeremiah says, ceremonies are to hypocrites the dens of robbers, (Jeremiah 7:10,11.) So here the Prophet speaks expressly of festal-days and of songs, — “Think ye that I am pacified on your feast-days, when ye offer sacrifices to me, or rather to idols under my name; and think ye that I am delighted with your songs? these things are so regarded by me, that they the more excite my wrath. Your festal-days then will I turn to mourning, and your songs to lamentation. At the same time, the Prophet threatens generally what we have before noticed, — that there would be mourning among the whole people for having too long abused the forbearance of God; I will then turn your joy into mourning. This is the sum of the whole. We have already shown why he names feast-days and songs, and that is, because they thought them to be expiations to turn aside God’s vengeance, when yet they were fans by which they kindled more and more the fire of his displeasure.

He afterwards adds, I will make to come up on all backs the sackcloth, and on every head baldness. These are various modes of speaking, which refer to the same thing: for they were wont to put on sackcloth and they were wont to shave their heads when in grief and mourning. The Prophet then means, that there would be extreme sorrow among the people, that having cast away all delights, they would be constrained to give up themselves entirely to weeping, lamentation, and grief. I will then make to come up on all loins the sackcloth, that is, I will make each one to put off all valuable and soft clothing and to put on sackcloth; and also to shave their heads, and even to tear off their hair, as they were wont to do. We indeed know that the orientals were more disposed to adopt external tokens of sorrow than we are. It was in truth the levity of that country that accounts for their playing the part of actors in mourning; and from this practice of mourning our Prophet borrowed his mode of speaking.

He afterwards subjoins, I will set her (he speaks of the Israelites under the name of land) in mourning as for an only begotten This similitude occurs also in another place, ‘They shall mourn as for an only-begotten,’ says Zechariah 12; so also in other places; so that there is no need of a long explanation. For when one has many children and one dies, he patiently bears his death; but when any one is bereaved of an only-begotten, there is no end nor moderation to his grief; for there is no comfort remaining. This is the reason why the Prophet says, that there would be grief, such as that which is felt for an only-begotten.

And he shows that these calamities would not be for a short time only, Her posterity, he says, shall be as in the day of bitterness For hypocrites drive away, or at least moderate, their fear of punishment by imagining that God will not be so severe and rigid but for a short time, — “O! it cannot be God will for long punish our sins; but it will be like mist which soon passes away.” Thus hypocrites felicitate themselves. Then the Prophet does not without reason subjoin this second clause, that their posterity shall be as in the day of bitterness. Hence when they shall think themselves freed from all evils, then new ones shall succeed, so that their posterity shall even doubly grieve; for they shall feel more bitterness than their fathers. It now follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10, 11) The imagery is very vivid. The prophet threatens a famine of the word of Jehovah, and a parching thirst for the Water of Life, now no longer attainable. Such terrible destitution often supervenes on the neglect of the Word of God, the power to discern the ever-present Word being exhausted. Then comes the withdrawal of revelation, the silence of seers. One of the awful dooms of unbelief in the next world will be this famine, this hopeless thirst and fathomless suspense.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. The lamentation to be produced by such an alarming spectacle.

And I will turn your pilgrimages into mourning] The sacred pilgrimages (Amo_5:21) were occasions of rejoicing: cf. Isa_30:29; Hos_2:11 “And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her pilgrimages, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her sacred seasons.” Comp. also Lam_5:15 “our dance is turned into mourning.”

into lamentation] into a dirge (Amo_5:1). Not unrestrained wailings, but a regularly constructed dirge (see on Amo_5:1), is what Amos pictures as taking the place of joyous songs.

bring up upon] Heb. cause to come up upon, the correlative of come up upon, said idiomatically of a garment (Lev_19:19; Eze_44:17).

sackcloth] i.e. rough, coarse hair-cloth, which was bound about the loins in times of mourning (2Sa_3:31; Jer_4:8; Jer_48:37 &c.).

baldness] Artificial baldness, produced by shaving off the hair on the forehead (Deu_14:1), was another sign of mourning, often alluded to by the prophets, as resorted to, both by the Israelites, and among other nations: see Isa_3:24; Isa_15:2 (in Moab), Isa_22:12 (where Jehovah “calls” to it in Jerusalem); Mic_1:16; Jer_47:5; Jer_48:37 (also in Moab); Eze_7:18 (“and on all your heads baldness”), Eze_27:31 (of Tyrian mariners). It is prohibited in Deu_14:1, on account (as it seems) of its heathen associations.

and I will make it] viz. the lamentation of Israel in that day.

of an only son] Cf. Jer_6:26; Zec_12:10 end.

and the end thereof as a bitter day] Most griefs at length wear themselves out: the end of this grief should be not an alleviation, but an aggravation of the distress; it should introduce, viz., a further stage in the threatened doom.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation,.... Either their religious feasts, the feasts of pentecost, tabernacles, and passover; at which three feasts there were eclipses of the sun, a few years after this prophecy of Amos, as Bishop Usher (q) observes: the first was an eclipse of the sun about ten digits, in the year 3213 A.M. or 791 B.C., June twenty fourth, at the feast of pentecost; the next was almost twelve digits, about eleven years after, on November eighth, 780 B.C., at the feast of the tabernacles; and the third was more than eleven digits in the following year, 779 B.C., on May fifth, at the feast of the passover; which the prophecy may literally refer to, and which might occasion great sorrow and concern, and especially at what they might be thought to forebode: but particularly this was fulfilled when these feasts could not be observed any longer, nor the songs used at them sung any more; or else their feasts, and songs at them, in their own houses, in which they indulged themselves in mirth and jollity; but now, instead thereof, there would be mourning and lamentation the loss of their friends, and being carried captive into a strange land;

and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins; of high and low, rich and poor; even those that used to be covered with silk and rich embroideries: sackcloth was a coarse cloth put on in times of mourning for the dead, or on account of public calamities:

and baldness upon every head: the hair being either shaved off or pulled off; both which were sometimes done, as a token of mourning:

and I will make it as the mourning of an only son; as when parents mourn for an only son, which is generally carried to the greatest height, and continued longest, as well as is most sincere and passionate; the case being exceeding cutting and afflictive, as this is hereby represented to be:

and the end thereof as a bitter day; a day of bitter calamity, and of bitter wailing and mourning, in the bitterness of their spirits; though the beginning of the day was bright and clear, a fine sunshine, yet the end of it dark and bitter, distressing and sorrowful, it being the end of the people of Israel, as in Amo 8:2.

(q) Annales Vet. Test. ad A. M. 3213.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I will turn your feasts into mourning - He recurs to the sentence which he had pronounced Amo 8:3, before he described the avarice and oppression which brought it down. Hosea too had foretold, “I will cause all her mirth to cease, her feast-days, etc” Hos 2:11. So Jeremiah describes, “the joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning” Lam 5:15. The Book of Tobit bears witness how these sayings of Amos lived in the hearts of the captive Israelites. The word of God seems oftentimes to fail, yet it finds those who are His. “I remembered,” he said, “that prophecy of Amos, your feasts shall be turned into mourning” (Tobit 2:6).

The correspondence of these words with the miracle at our Blessed Lord’s Passion, in that “the earth was darkened in the clear day, at noon-day,” was noticed by the earliest fathers , and that the more, since it took place at the Feast of the Passover, and, in punishment for that sin, their “feasts were turned into mourning,” in the desolation of their country and the cessation of their worship.

I will bring up sackcloth - (that is, the rough coarse haircloth, which, being fastened with the girdle tight over the loins (see above Joe 1:8, Joe 1:13, pp. 107, 109), was wearing to the frame) “and baldness upon every head.” The mourning of the Jews was no half-mourning, no painless change of one color of becoming dress for another. For the time, they were dead to the world or to enjoyment. As the clothing was coarse, uncomely, distressing, so they laid aside every ornament, the ornament of their hair also (as English widows used, on the same principle, to cover it). They shore it off; each sex, what was the pride of their sex; the men, their beards; the women, their long hair. The strong words, “baldness, is balded Jer 16:6, shear Mic 1:16; Jer 7:29, hew off, enlarge thy baldness” , are used to show the completeness of this expression of sorrow. None exempted themselves in the universal sorrow; “on every head” came up “baldness.”

And I will make it - (probably, the whole state and condition of things, everything, as we use our “it”) as the mourning of an only son As, when God delivered Israel from Egypt, “there was not,” among the Egyptians: “a house where there was not one dead Exo 12:30, and one universal cry arose from end to end of the land, so now too in apostate Israel. The whole mourning should be the one most grievous mourning of parents, over the one child in whom they themselves seemed anew to live.

And the end thereof as a bitter day - Most griefs have a rest or pause, or wear themselves out. “The end” of this should be like the beginning, nay, one concentrated grief, a whole day of bitter grief summed up in its close. It was to be no passing trouble, but one which should end in bitterness, an unending sorrow and destruction; image of the undying death in hell.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Baldness, the hair being cut in mourning, Job i. 20. --- Son, most afflicted, Zacharias xii. 10., and Jeremias vi. 26. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

I will turn your feasts, religious, though idolatrous in your temples, see Amo 8:3, and your ordinary civil feasts in your palaces, into mourning: see Amo 8:3.

And all your songs into lamentation: this ingemination doth assure the thing, and forebode the sadness of their state.

I will bring up sackcloth; as all inwardly shall be sadness, so all that appears outwardly shall speak their sorrow and sadness.

Upon all loins; all sorts of persons should put on this mourning, and gird it close to their loins that it might afflict them the more, a custom very general in those times and places.

Baldness upon every head; partly pulling off the hair of the head through anguish, or shaving the head and beard in sign of greatest sadness, as the Eastern people did: see Mic 1:16.

As the mourning of an only son: this is accounted the greatest mourning, and seems proverbially to express such mourning, Jer 6:26; Zec 12:10, which see; so God will afflict this people with greatest sorrows, and fill them with greatest mourning.

The end; you may hope these troubles will be over, and come to an end, but that will be little to your comfort; a bitter day, which you shall wish you had never seen, shall succeed your dark night, as indeed it doth to this day.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Whether interpreted literally or figuratively Amo_8:8-9 speak of a terrible visitation of Jehovah, the result of which will be universal wailing and lamentation.

Feasts — See on Hos_2:11. Under normal conditions these were occasions of rejoicing (Amo_5:21-23; Isa_30:29); in that day they will be seasons of mourning (Amo_5:16-17; Amo_8:3).

Songs — Joyful songs (see on Amo_8:3).

Lamentation — For the dead. The same word as in Amo_5:1 (see there).

Sackcloth — A symbol of mourning (see on Joe_1:8).

Baldness — Artificial baldness was another sign of mourning (see on Mic_1:16).

Of an only son — The bitterest grief imaginable (Zec_12:10; Jer_6:26).

The end — Of the mourning.

As a bitter day — Time heals most wounds and makes most sorrows less intense; not so in this case — the end will be as bitter as the beginning or even worse.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will turn your feasts into mourning, etc. (comp. ver. 3: Amo_5:16, Amo_5:17; Lam_5:15; Hos_2:11 RAPC Tob 2:6) Sackcloth. A token of mourning (1Ki_20:31; Isa_15:3; Joe_1:8, Joe_1:13) Baldness. On shaving the head as a sign of mourning, see note on (Mic_1:16; and comp. Job_1:20; Isa_3:24; Jer_16:6 Jer_47:5; Eze_7:18) I will make it; Ponam eam (Vulgate); sc. terram . But it is better to take it to refer to the whole state of things mentioned before. The mourning for an only son was proverbially severe, like that of the widow of Nain. (Luk_7:12, etc.; comp. Jer_6:26; Zec_12:10) And the end thereof as a bitter day. The calamity should not wear itself out; it should be bitter unto the end. Septuagint, Qhsomai tout aujtou wJv hJmeran ojdunhv, "I will make those with him as a day of anguish.

A bitter day.

There is something incongruous in this language. Day is the bright and beauteous gift of God, and its sunlight and all the glory it reveals may justly be taken as the emblem of happiness and prosperity. The light is sweet; the day is joyous. Yet here there is depicted a bitter day! The context makes it evident that this is attributable to sin, which makes all sweet things bitter, and all bright things dim.

I THE BITTER DAY OF ISRAEL CONTRASTS WITH BYGONE DAYS OF SWEETNESS. Festivals and songs are mentioned in the context as distinctive of the religious life of the chosen people. And in times of national plenty and prosperity there had never been wanting abundance and even luxury, mirth and music, festivity and joy. These things have vanished into the past now that the "bitter day" has dawned.

II THE BITTER DAY OF ISRAEL IS MARKED BY CIRCUMSTANCES OF TERRIBLE DISTRESS. The sun goes down, the land is darkened, mourning and lamentation are heard, sackcloth is worn, the hair is shaved off the heads lately anointed for the banquet and wreathed with flowers; the signs are those of "mourning for an only son." The fallen and wretched condition of the nation could not be depicted more graphically. The prophet artist is skilful to heighten the dark colours which are expressive of Israel"s woe.

III THE BITTER DAY OF ISRAEL IS THE RESULT OF ISRAEL"S SINS. What is called misfortune and calamity is often really punishment. There was nothing accidental in what befell this nation. On the contrary, Israel brought disaster upon itself by unfaithfulness, disobedience, rebellion. As the people had sown, so they were to reap. Under the government of a just God it cannot be otherwise. The fruit of sin cannot be otherwise than bitter.

IV THE BITTER DAY OF ISRAEL IS SUGGESTIVE OF LESSONS OF WISDOM TO EVERY NATION. The rule of a righteous God is a fact not to be disputed. The retributive consequences of that rule are not to be evaded. Let not the people imagine a vain thing, or the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Upon all loins - All sorts of persons shall put on mourning. Baldness - Shaving the head and beard was a sign of the greatest sadness. A bitter day - A bitter day, which you shall wish you had never seen, shall succeed your dark night.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And I will turn your festivals into mourning—as the matter is stated: (II Chron 35:24) “And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.”

and all your songs into lamentation—as the matter is stated: (ibid. verse 25) “And all the singing men and singing women spoke in their lamentations.”

like the mourning for an only son—Like a father who mourns over an only son.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.