Amos 5:2

The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise;

She is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.

This is the -ḳînâh," written in a peculiar rhythm, which has been shewn (by Prof. K. Budde, now of Strassburg) to be that regularly used for Hebrew elegy. As a rule, in Hebrew poetry, the second of two parallel members balances the first, being approximately similar in length and structure, and presenting a thought either synonymous with it, or antithetic to it; but in the Hebrew elegy, the second member is shorter than the first, and instead of balancing and re-enforcing it, echoes it imperfectly, producing a plaintive, melancholy cadence. This rhythmical form prevails throughout most of the Book of -Lamentations," for instance, Amos 1:1:

How doth the city sit solitary, she that was full of people!

She is become as a widow, she that was great among the nations;

The princess among the provinces, she is become tributary.

It is also observable elsewhere, where a -ḳînâh" is announced, as Jeremiah 9:10; Jeremiah 9:10; Jeremiah 9:10:

From the fowl of heaven even unto cattle, they are fled, they are gone:

And I will make Jerusalem to be heaps, an habitation of jackals;

And the cities of Judah will I make a desolation, without inhabitant.

In the verses here quoted, each line, it will be observed, consists of two unequal parts, the second halting after the first, and being (in the Hebrew) appreciably shorter. For other examples of the "ḳînâh," or dirge, see 2Sa 1:17 ff; 2 Samuel 3:33-34; Ezekiel 19:1-14; Ezekiel 26:17-18; Ezekiel 32:2-16 [156]. (In A.V., R.V., the subst. and corresponding verbs are rendered lamentation, lament; but these are suited better to express nĕhî, nâhâh: see on Amos 5:16.)

[156] See further the writer's Introduction, p. 429 f.

the virgin of Israel The nation is personified, being pictured as a maiden, no longer erect and blithefully going her way, but wounded and prostrate on the ground, unable to rise by her own efforts (having none to assist her (cf. Isaiah 1:17 f. of Jerusalem). This is the earliest extant example of the personification of a nation, or community, as a woman, a maiden or a mother, as the case may be: but it becomes common afterwards in Hebrew poetry, the figure being adopted especially with effect when it is desired to represent some keen or strong emotion, and being employed sometimes with great dramatic force. See, for example, with virgin, Jeremiah 18:13; Jeremiah 31:4; Jeremiah 31:21; with virgin daughter, Isaiah 37:22 ("the virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head after thee"), Isaiah 47:1; Jeremiah 14:17; Jeremiah 46:11; with daughter(alone) Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 10:30; Isaiah 10:32; Isaiah 22:4; Isaiah 47:5; Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 9:1; Micah 4:10; Micah 4:13; Zephaniah 3:14; Zechariah 9:9 ("Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem"); and with the feminine indicated (in the Hebrew) by the termination, Isaiah 12:6 (see R.V. marg.), Isaiah 49:17 f., Isaiah 51:17-20; Jeremiah 10:17 (see R.V. marg.), Jeremiah 22:23 (see ib.).

is fallen The tense is the prophetic past, describing the future as the prophet in imagination sees it, already accomplished. Cf. Amos 8:14.

is forsaken Rather, is cast down (R.V.), or lieth forsaken (R.V. marg.), i.e. is abandoned, left to die where she had fallen: cf. Ezekiel 29:5 (R.V. "leave thee (thrown) into the wilderness"), Ezekiel 32:4 ("And I will leavethee forsakenupon the land, I will throw thee forth upon the face of the field"). Such an announcement as this, made in the height of the prosperity secured by Jeroboam II, would naturally be a startling one to those who heard it.