Amos 5:5

5 But do not seek Bethel or go [to] Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile and Bethel will come to disaster."

Amos 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 5:5

But seek not Bethel
Do not go to Bethel, the place where one of Jeroboam's calves was set up and worshipped, to consult the oracle, idols, and priests there; or to perform religious worship, which will be your ruin, if not prevented by another course of living: nor enter into Gilgal;
another place of idolatry, where idols were set up and worshipped (See Gill on Amos 4:4); and pass not to Beersheba;
a place in the further part of the land of Israel; it formerly belonged to Judah, but was now in the hands of the ten tribes, and where idolatrous worship was practised; see ( Amos 8:14 ) ; it having been a place where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had dwelt, and worshipped the true God: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity;
that is, the inhabitants of it; they will not be able with their idols and idol worship to save themselves, and therefore go not thither. There is an elegant play on words here ^F2, as there is also in the next words: and Bethel shall come to nought;
which also was called Bethaven, the house of vanity, or of an idol which is nothing in the world; and therefore, because of the idolatry in it, should come to nothing, be utterly destroyed, and the inhabitants of it. So the Targum,

``they, that are in Gilgal, and worship calves in Bethel.''

---

FOOTNOTES:

F2 (hlgy hlg lglgh) .

Amos 5:5 In-Context

3 For thus says my Lord Yahweh, "The city that marches out [with] a thousand will [only] have a hundred left. And the one that marches out [with] a hundred will [only] have ten left for the house of Israel."

4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, "Seek me so that you may live."

5 But do not seek Bethel or go [to] Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile and Bethel will come to disaster."

6 Seek Yahweh so that you may live, so that he will not break out like a fire [against] the house of Joseph! And it will devour, {with none to quench} [it] for Bethel.

7 [Ah,] you who turn justice into wormwood and hurl righteousness to the ground!