אבל 'abal basically means "mourn" or "lament". It is used in six times, in five verses (1:2; 5:16 [noun]; 8:8, 10 [x2 noun]; 9:5) in four different places in Amos. Of these 5:16 and 8:10 are straightforward, while 8:8 and 9:5 are closely related texts that share most of their words. The use of this word to speak of "pastures" in 1:2 is not as strange as it may seem in English, there are a number of texts where "the land" is said to "mourn" (Is 24:4; 33:9; Hos 4:3; Joel 1:10; Jer 4:28; 12:4; 23:10).