But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
But seek not Beth-el - i:e., the calves at Bethel.
Nor enter into Gilgal - (note, Amos 4:4). Since here there is the Lord's invitation to penitents to come to Him, it is accompanied with a warning, "seek not Beth-el," for ye cannot seek me and yet seek Bethel at the same time: so in Amos 4:4, where judgment is denounced against reprobates, God, on the contrary, tells them, "Come to Beth-el, and transgress" - i:e., He gives them up to their own ruinous sin.
And pass not to Beer-sheba - in Judah, on the southern frontier toward Edom. Once "the well of the oath" by Yahweh, ratifying Abraham's covenant with Abimelech, and the scene of his calling on "the Lord, the everlasting God" (Genesis 21:31; Genesis 21:33), now a stronghold of idolatry (Amos 8:14, "the manner of Beer-sheba liveth"). He counsels Israel not to add Judah's idolatry to her own.
Gilgal shall surely go into captivity - a play on similar sounds in the Hebrew, Gilgal, galoh, yigleh: 'Gilgal (the place of rolling) shall rolling be rolled away.'
Beth-el shall come to nought - Bethel (i:e., the house of God), called because of its vain idols - i:e., "the calves" - Beth-aven (i:e. the house of vanity, or nought, Hosea 4:15; Hosea 10:5; Hosea 10:8), shall indeed "come to nought."