3For thus says the Lord GOD,
         “The city which goes forth a thousand strong
         Will have a hundred left,
         And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
         Will have ten left to the house of Israel.”

      4For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel,
         “Seek Me that you may live.

5“But do not resort to Bethel
         And do not come to Gilgal,
         Nor cross over to Beersheba;
         For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
         And Bethel will come to trouble.

6“Seek the LORD that you may live,
         Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph,
         And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,

7For those who turn justice into wormwood
         And cast righteousness down to the earth.”

8He who made the Pleiades and Orion
         And changes deep darkness into morning,
         Who also darkens day into night,
         Who calls for the waters of the sea
         And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
         The LORD is His name.

9It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong,
         So that destruction comes upon the fortress.

10They hate him who reproves in the gate,
         And they abhor him who speaks with integrity.

11Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor
         And exact a tribute of grain from them,
         Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone,
         Yet you will not live in them;
         You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine.

12For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great,
         You who distress the righteous and accept bribes
         And turn aside the poor in the gate.

13Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.

14Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
         And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you,
         Just as you have said!

15Hate evil, love good,
         And establish justice in the gate!
         Perhaps the LORD God of hosts
         May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

      16Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the Lord,
         “There is wailing in all the plazas,
         And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
         They also call the farmer to mourning
         And professional mourners to lamentation.

17“And in all the vineyards there is wailing,
         Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the LORD.

18Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD,
         For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you?
         It will be darkness and not light;

19As when a man flees from a lion
         And a bear meets him,
         Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall
         And a snake bites him.

20Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light,
         Even gloom with no brightness in it?

21“I hate, I reject your festivals,
         Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

22“Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
         I will not accept them;
         And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.

23“Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
         I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

24“But let justice roll down like waters
         And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

      25“Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? 26“You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 27“Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
She has fallen, she will not rise again-- The virgin Israel. She lies neglected on her land; There is none to raise her up.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The people of Israel have fallen, never to rise again. They lie abandoned in their own land. There is no one to help them.

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

Douay-Rheims Bible
The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.

Darby Bible Translation
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more arise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

English Revised Version
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.

Webster's Bible Translation
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise! she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

World English Bible
"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."

Young's Literal Translation
'Fallen, not again to rise, hath the virgin of Israel, Left on her land -- she hath no raiser up.'

Cross References

Isaiah 51:18 There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne, Nor is there one to take her by the hand among all the sons she has reared.

Jeremiah 8:4 "You shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, "Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent?

Jeremiah 14:17 "You will say this word to them, 'Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, With a sorely infected wound.

Jeremiah 50:32 "The arrogant one will stumble and fall With no one to raise him up; And I will set fire to his cities And it will devour all his environs."

Amos 8:14 "As for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, Who say, 'As your god lives, O Dan,' And, 'As the way of Beersheba lives,' They will fall and not rise again."

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

The scope of this chapter is to prosecute the exhortation given to Israel in the close of the foregoing chapter to prepare to meet their God; the prophet here tells them, I. What preparation they must make; they must "seek the Lord," and not seek any more to idols (v. 4-8); they must seek good, and love it (v. 14, 15). II. Why they must make this preparation to meet their God, 1. Because of the present deplorable condition they were in (v. 1-3). 2. Because it was by sin that they were brought into such a condition (v. 7, 10-12). 3. Because it would be their happiness to seek God, and he was ready to be found of them (v. 8, 9, 14). 4. Because he would proceed, in his wrath, to their utter ruin, if they did not seek him (v. 5, 6, 13, 16, 17). 5. Because all their confidences would fail them if they did not seek unto God, and make him their friend. (1.) Their profane contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at defiance, would not secure them (v. 18-20). (2.) Their external services in religion, and the shows of devotion, would not avail to turn away the wrath of God (v. 21-24). (3.) Their having been long in possession of church-privileges, and in a course of holy duties, would not be their protection, while all along they had kept up their idolatrous customs (v. 25-27). They have therefore no way left them to save themselves, but by repentance and reformation.

Verses 1-3

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. 3:1. 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 Ki. 10:32), 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?

Calvin's Commentary

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.

2. Cecidit nec adjiciet ut resurgat virgo Israel: relicta est super terram suam; non est qui attollat.

This was substantially the vengeance which was now nigh the Israelites, though they rested securely, and even scorned all the threatening of God. The virgin of Israel, he says, has fallen Expounders have too refinedly explained the word virgin; for they think that the people of Israel are here called a virgin, because God had espoused them to himself, and that though they ought to have observed spiritual chastity towards God, they yet abandoned themselves to all kinds of pollutions: but a virgin, we know, is a title given for the most part by the Prophets to this or that people on account of their delicacies; for Babylon, no less than Samaria or the people of Israel, is called a virgin. Certainly this refined interpretation cannot be applied to Babylon, to Egypt, to Tyre, and to other places. I have therefore no doubt but the Prophet here arraigns the Israelites, because they, relying on their strength, indulged themselves. They were quiet in their own retreats, and when all kinds of blessings abounded, they lived daintily and sumptuously. As then they were indulging themselves in such pleasures he calls them a virgin. The virgin of Israel then has fallen, and shall no more rise again.

A condition may be here included, as an exhortation to repentance immediately follows: we may then fitly regard this as being understood, "except they timely repent:" otherwise the Israelites must have fallen without hope of restoration. But we may also refer this to the body of the people: fallen then had the virgin of Israel, not so however that they were all destroyed, as we shall hereafter see; for the Prophet says that the tenth part would remain: but this is rightly said of the people generally; for we know that the kingdom had so fallen, that it never afterwards did rise. A remnant of the tribe of Judah did indeed return to Jerusalem; but the Israelites are at this day dispersed though various parts of the world; yea, they are hid either in the mountains of Armenia, or in other regions of the East. Since then what the Prophet here denounces has been really fulfilled as to the whole kingdom, we may take the place without supposing any thing understood, "Fallen has the virgin of Israel." For as God showed mercy when the people as a body were destroyed, that some remained, is what does not militate with the prophecy, that the whole body had fallen. Fallen then has the virgin of Israel, nor will she any more rise again; that is, the kingdom shall not by way of recovery be restored; and this, we know, has never taken place.

Forsaken is she, he says, on her own land, and there is none to raise her up; which means, that she will continue fallen: though she may remain in her own place, she will not yet recover what she had lost. We now understand the Prophet's meaning; and, at the same time, we see that that people had so fallen, as never to rise again, as it has been stated, into a kingdom. Let us now proceed --

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The Sins of Society
'For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye Me, and ye shall live: 5. But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. 6. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, 8. Seek Him that maketh the seven stars …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

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Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

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John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

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Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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[Sidenote: 1129] 19. (12). Meanwhile[365] it happened that Archbishop Cellach[366] fell sick: he it was who ordained Malachy deacon, presbyter and bishop: and knowing that he was dying he made a sort of testament[367] to the effect that Malachy ought to succeed him,[368] because none seemed worthier to be bishop of the first see. This he gave in charge to those who were present, this he commanded to the absent, this to the two kings of Munster[369] and to the magnates of the land he specially enjoined …
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