And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burns him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say to him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with you? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold your tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.
And a.
that burneth.
Amos 8:3 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.
1 Samuel 31:12 All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.
2 Kings 23:16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
Hold.
Amos 5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
Numbers 17:12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.
2 Kings 6:33 And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?
for.
Jeremiah 44:26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.
Ezekiel 20:39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
we may not make.
he will call to one inside, “Is anyone else with you?”
The inquiry suggests a scene of desolation and fear. The relative's question indicates the expectation of finding more victims, highlighting the widespread devastation. This also reflects the breakdown of community and family structures, as survivors are scarce.
“None,” that person will answer.
The response underscores the totality of the calamity. The absence of survivors points to the thoroughness of God's judgment. This echoes the warnings given by prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah about the consequences of Israel's disobedience (Isaiah 6:11-12, Jeremiah 9:21).
“Silence,” the relative will retort,
The command for silence suggests a deep reverence or fear. In the context of judgment, silence can be a response to the overwhelming presence of God's holiness and wrath. It may also indicate a cultural practice of mourning or a fear of invoking further divine wrath.
“for the name of the LORD must not be invoked.”
This phrase reflects a fear of speaking God's name in a context of judgment, possibly to avoid further provocation of His anger. It highlights the seriousness of the situation and the recognition of God's sovereignty and holiness. The prohibition against invoking God's name in vain is rooted in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:7), emphasizing the sacredness of His name.
– Amos pictures a devastation so widespread that families have no strength to give loved ones a proper burial; they resort to burning (Amos 4:10; 1 Samuel 31:12).
– The “relative” (literally, the nearest kin) shoulders a grisly duty, signaling that judgment has reached every household (Deuteronomy 28:26; Jeremiah 7:33).
– Burning the dead rather than burying them was rare in Israel, underscoring how complete the calamity is (Amos 8:3).
– The caller stands in the doorway, hoping to salvage any survivor hidden in the back room (Jeremiah 9:21; Exodus 12:30).
– His question shows the house that once echoed with laughter now echoes only with the fear of who might still be breathing (Amos 3:15).
– A single, bleak word testifies that the house is emptied of life (Isaiah 24:3; Micah 7:2).
– The survivor’s admission highlights the totality of God’s announced judgment: plenty, security, and social pride have vanished (Amos 6:1–7).
– “Silence” (Habakkuk 2:20; Zephaniah 1:7) demands immediate hush—no wailing, no ritual mourning.
– The command reflects reverence mixed with dread; even lament feels dangerous amid God’s active wrath (Lamentations 2:10).
– The family fears that speaking God’s holy name in such a setting could deepen their guilt (Leviticus 24:16) or summon further judgment (Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 44:26).
– Israel had long treated the LORD’s name lightly through idolatry and injustice; now, under righteous discipline, the name becomes too weighty to utter (Amos 2:6–8; 5:11–13).
– The silence exposes a tragic reversal: once the nation was to proclaim His name among the nations (Deuteronomy 6:4–7), yet rebellion has reduced them to wordless terror.
Amos 6:10 paints a sobering scene of God’s promised judgment: a kinship house emptied by plague or sword, bodies burned, and the few remaining so overwhelmed that they hush each other from even naming the LORD. The verse drives home the completeness of divine discipline, the collapse of human confidence, and the reverent fear that arises when a people finally recognize the seriousness of misusing God’s holy name.
Verse 10. - The prophet gives an instance of the terror and misery in that common calamity. He depicts a scene where the nearest surviving kinsman comes into the house to perform the funeral rites for a dead man. And a man's uncle; better, and when a man's kinsman; the apodosis being at the end of the verse, "Then shall he say." Dod is sometimes rendered "beloved," but usually "father's brother," but it may mean any near relation upon whom, in default of father and brethren, would devolve the duty of burying the corpse. Septuagint, el οἰκεῖοι αὐτῶν: propinquus suus (Vulgate). And he that burneth him; literally, and his burner. This is the same person as the kinsman. the butler; but tot some reason, either from the number of deaths, or from the pestilence, or from the distance of the burying place, which would be out of the city and inaccessible in the blockade, he cannot lay the body in the brave, and is forced to take and burn it. Though the Jews generally buried dead bodies, cremation was sometimes used, both in honour or emergency (1 Samuel 31:12) and in punishment (Leviticus 20:14; Leviticus 21:9). The bones; i.e. the corpse, as in Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32; and 2 Kings 13:21; Keil. The kinsman takes it up to bring it out of the house to burn it. Him that is by the sides of the house; him that is in the innermost parts of the house; qui in penetralibus domus est (Vulgate). This is the last living person, who had hidden himself in the most remote chambers; or it may be a messenger whom the kinsman had sent to search the house. He asks him - Is there yet any with thee? Is there any one left alive to succour, or dead to bury? And he shall say, No; Vulgate, et respondebit, Finis est. Then he (the kinsman) shall say, Hold thy tongue (Has!); Hush! He stays the man in the inner chamber from speaking; and why? For we may not make mention of the name of the Lord; Vulgate, et non recorderis nominis Domini. Some, as Pussy, Schegg, and Gandell, see here the voice of despair. It is too late to call upon God now; it is the time of vengeance. We rejected him in life; we may not cry to him in death. St. Jerome refers the prohibition to the hardness of heart and unbelief of the people, who even in all this misery will not confess the name of the Lord. Keil says, "It indicates a fear lest, by the invocation of the name of God, his eye should be drawn towards this last remaining one, and he also should fall a victim to the judgment of death." Others again think that the notion in the mind of the impious speaker is that Jehovah is the Author of all their calamities, and that he is impatient at the very mention of his name. The simplest explanation is the first, or a modification of it The person addressed is about to pray or to call on God in his distress. "Be silent," says the speaker; "we can no longer appeal to Jehovah as the covenant God; by naming him we call to his remembrance how we have broken the covenant, violated our relation to him; therefore provoke him not further by making mention of his name."