Albert Barnes Commentary Amos 5:17

"And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah." — Amos 5:17 (ASV)

And in all vineyards will be wailing – All joy would be turned into sorrow. Where previously was the vintage-shout in thankfulness for the ingathering, and anticipating gladness to come, there, in the source of their luxury, would be wailing, the forerunner of sorrow to come. It was a vintage, not of wine, but of woe.

For I will pass through you – In the destruction of the firstborn in Egypt, God did not “pass through” but “passed over” them, and they kept, in memory of it, the feast of the Passover. Now God would no longer “pass over” them and their sins. He says, “I will pass through you,” as He then said, “I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn of the land of Egypt – and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment” (Exodus 12:12).

As God says by Hosea, “I will not enter the city” (Hosea 11:9)—that is, He would not make His presence felt, or take cognizance, when to take cognizance would be to punish—so here, conversely, He says, “I will pass through,” taking exact and severe account, in judgment.

Jerome further says, “As often as this word is used in Holy Scripture, in the person of God, it denotes punishment: that He would not abide among them, but would pass through and leave them.

“Surely, it is an image of this that, when the Jews would have cast our Lord headlong from the brow of the hill on which their city was built, “He passed through the midst of them” (Luke 4:30), so that they could not see Him nor know Him, “and so went His way.” And this occurred when He had just told them that none of the widows of Israel were fed by Elias, or the lepers cleansed by Elisha, except the widow of Sarepta and Naaman the Syrian.

“So their leprosy would cleave to them, and the famine of the word of God and of the oil of the Holy Spirit would abide among them, while the Gentiles were washed by His laver and fed with the bread of life.”