“Hear this word

That I take up

Over you,

In lamentation!

O house of Israel!

She has fallen.

She will rise no more.

This is the maiden Israel.

She is forsaken

On her land.

There is none

To raise her up.”

Now Amos set out a lamentation for the house of Israel. He wanted them to hear his crying words. The virgin maiden Israel had fallen, but she was not going to get up anymore. She had been forsaken in her own land. There was no one to help her get back on her feet.