What Does Amos 5:5 Mean in the King James?

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.

Amos 5:5 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse strips sacred geography of its promise of safety: Bethel and Gilgal themselves are named for collapse.

THE MEANING

You can search for security in sacred destinations, but no place can protect itself from collapse. Bethel, ⁨בֵּית־אֵל⁩ (beit-el), means “house of God”; this verse says that the place bearing that name comes to nothing, while Gilgal is carried into exile. In the adjoining line, the promise is explicit: seeking the LORD and living belong together.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that reaching or repeating the right sacred place guarantees spiritual security dissolves here: even revered places are exposed to loss.

THE ROOT

יִגְלֶה

yigleh

GROWS FROM

גלה

galah

Go into exile; be carried away.

The Hebrew stacks ⁨גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה⁩ (galoh yigleh, “go into exile it will go”), an infinitive absolute before its finite verb, to intensify the certainty rendered “shall surely go into captivity.” The place-name Gilgal (⁨גִּלְגָּל⁩, gilgal), associated with ⁨גלל⁩ (galal, “roll”), echoes ⁨גלה⁩ (galah) by sound without sharing its root, so the site’s name rings against the exile named for it.

ALSO GROWS

galoh: To go into exile; the infinitive absolute form.

גָּלֹה

It repeats the same root before the finite verb, intensifying the certainty of the outcome.

yigleh: He or it will go into exile; the finite verb.

יִגְלֶה

This form names Gilgal’s fate and completes the emphatic repetition.

תִּדְרְשׁוּ

tidreshu

GROWS FROM

דרש

darash

Seek, inquire, or consult.

“seek” in this verse is tidreshu. This root makes seeking more than travel: it includes inquiry and consultation. Amos 5:4 uses the same root with the LORD as its object and life as its result, while this verse refuses to treat revered locations as substitutes.

ALSO GROWS

derishah: Seeking or inquiry.

דְּרִישָׁה

This noun preserves the searching quality of the verse’s verb.

midrash: Inquiry or exposition.

מִדְרָשׁ

It carries the same root into the act of searching out meaning.

THE PATTERN

A sacred location cannot guarantee life; the decisive search is directed toward God.

For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

Amos 5:4 · KJVThe same passage directs the search toward the LORD and joins it to life.

Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.

Jeremiah 7:4 · KJVThe repeated temple claim cannot itself make the people secure.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

John 4:21 · KJVThe Father’s worship is no longer bound to either of the sacred locations named.

THE THREAD

For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

Amos 5:4 · KJV

It repeats the root ⁨דרש⁩ (darash, “seek”): here the object is the LORD, and the result is life. Amos 5:5 then refuses to substitute revered sites for that object; the hinge is what is being sought.

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