Amos 5:5

5:5 Do not seek Bethel! ¹ 

Do not visit Gilgal!

Do not journey down ²  to Beer Sheba!

For the people of Gilgal ³  will certainly be carried into exile; ⁴ 

and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” ⁵ 

Amos 7:17

7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ⁶ 

and your sons and daughters will die violently. ⁷ 

Your land will be given to others ⁸ 

and you will die in a foreign ⁹  land.

Israel will certainly be carried into exile ¹⁰  away from its land.’”

[5:5]  ¹ sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).

[5:5]  ² tn Heb “cross over.”

[5:5]  ³ tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:5]  ⁴ tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

[7:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”

[7:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”

[7:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”

[7:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).

[7:17]  ¹⁰ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.