Amos 5:2

5:1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

KJV

“The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken on her land; there is none to raise her up.

5:3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

What does Amos 5:2 mean?

Amos 5:2 is a verse in the book of Amos, in the Old Testament. In the original Hebrew, key words include בְּתוּלָה (bᵉthûwlâh), יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisrâʼêl), נָפַל (nâphal). It connects to 15 cross-referenced passages elsewhere in Scripture.

Hebrew interlinear

The

virginבְּתוּלָהbᵉthûwlâh/beth-oo-law'/H1330a virgin (from her privacy); sometimes (by continuation) a bride; also (figuratively) a city or state

IsraelיִשְׂרָאֵלYisrâʼêl/yis-raw-ale'/H3478Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity

fallen;נָפַלnâphal/naw-fal'/H5307to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)

she

shall

moreיָסַףyâçaph/yaw-saf'/H3254to add or augment (often adverbial, to continue to do a thing)

rise:קוּםqûwm/koom/H6965to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)

she

forsakenנָטַשׁnâṭash/naw-tash'/H5203properly, to pound, i.e. smite; by implication (as if beating out, and thus expanding) to disperse; also, to thrust off, down, out or upon (inclusively, reject, let alone, permit, remit, etc.)

upon

her

land;אֲדָמָהʼădâmâh/ad-aw-maw'/H127soil (from its general redness)

there

none

raise

her

up.קוּםqûwm/koom/H6965to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)

Commentary on Amos 5:2

HENRY_FULL · Amos 5:1–3

Invitations and Warnings. ( b. c. 790.) 1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. 2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. 3 For thus saith the Lord God ; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel. This chapter begins, as those two next foregoing began, with, Hear this word. Where God has a mouth to speak we must have an ear to hear; it is our duty, it is our interest, yet so stupid are most men that they need to be again and again called upon to hear the word of the Lord, to give audience, to give attention. Hear this word. this convincing awakening word must be heard and heeded, as well as words of comfort and peace; the word that is taken up against us, as well as that which makes for us; for, whether we hear or forbear, the word of God shall take effect, and not a tittle of it shall fall to the ground. It is the word which I take up —not the prophet only, but the God that sent him. It is the word that the Lord has spoken, ch. iii. 1 . The word to be heard is a lamentation, a lamentable account of the present calamitous state of the kingdom of Israel, and a lamentable prediction of its utter destruction. Their condition is sad: The virgin of Israel has fallen ( v. 2 ), has come down from what she was; that state, though not pure and chaste as a virgin, yet was beautiful and gay, and had its charms; she looked high herself, and was courted by many as a virgin; but she has fallen into contempt and poverty, and is universally slighted. Nay, and their condition is helpless: She shall no more rise, shall never recover her former dignity again. God had lately begun to cut Israel short ( 2 Kings x. 32 ), and, because they repented not, it was not long before he cut Israel down. 1. Their princes, that should have helped them up, were disabled: She is forsaken upon her land. Not only those she was in alliance with abroad failed her, but her friends at home deserted her; she would not have been carried captive into a strange land if she had not first been forsaken upon her own land and thrown to the ground there, and all her true interests abandoned by those that should have had them at heart. There is none to raise her up, none that can do it, not that cares to lend her a hand. 2. Their people, that should have helped them up, were diminished, v. 3 . "The city that had a militia, 1000 strong, and, in the beginning of the war, had furnished out 1000 effective men, able-bodied and well-armed, when they come to review their troops after the battle, shall find but 100 left; and, in proportion, the city that sent out 100 shall have but ten come back, so great a slaughter shall be made, and so few left to the house of Israel for the public service and safety." Scarcely one in ten shall escape of the hands that should relieve this abject, this dejected, nation. Note, The lessening of the numbers of God's spiritual Israel, by death or desertion, is just a matter for lamentation; for by whom shall Jacob arise, by whom shall the decays of piety be repaired, when he is thus made small?

Cross-references

Related passages from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

Job 3:25

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. the thing: Heb. I feared a fear, and it came upon me

Job 20:24

He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

Proverbs 10:24

The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

Isaiah 24:17

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

Isaiah 24:18

And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

Isaiah 30:16

But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

Isaiah 30:17

One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill. a beacon: or, a tree bereft of branches, or, boughs: or, a mast

Jeremiah 38:19

And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.

Jeremiah 42:14

Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:

Jeremiah 44:12

And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

Jeremiah 44:13

For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:

Amos 9:1

I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. lintel: or, chapiter, or, knop cut: or, wound them

John 11:48

If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

1 Thessalonians 2:15

Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: persecuted us: or, chased us out

1 Thessalonians 2:16

Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

Verses like this

Other verses that share key original-language words with Amos 5:2.

Genesis 4:12

When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

Genesis 4:2

And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Abel: Heb. Hebel a keeper: Heb. a feeder

Genesis 46:29

And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

Genesis 8:21

And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. a sweet: Heb. a savour of rest or, satisfaction for the imagination: or, through the imagination

Frequently asked questions

What does Amos 5:2 say?

Amos 5:2 (King James Version) reads: "The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up."

Is Amos 5:2 in the Old or New Testament?

Amos 5:2 is in the Old Testament of the Bible, in the book of Amos.

Reflect

As you read Amos 5:2, what is one truth here you can carry into today?

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