Amos 5:17

Amo 5:17 And in all vineyards [shall be] wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

Ver. 17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing] Where used to be great jollity and revelry riot in time of vintage, Psa 4:7. The calamity shall be common, the scourge overflowing; and all sorts shall have their share. See Joe 1:5; Joe 1:11; Joe 1:13.

For I will pass through thee, saith the Lord] As a fire in a thick wood, Jas 3:5, or dry stubble, Joe 2:5 Nah 1:10. I will go through them, I will burn them together, Isa 27:4, make a short work with them, Rom 9:28. So fearful a thing it is to fall into the punishing hands of the living God, Heb 10:31, to stand in his way, when his sword is in commission, and he saith to it, "Sword, go through the land; cut off man and beast from it," Eze 14:17. Let this be thought on by those secure ones that live as if they were out of the reach of God’s rod; for "what if the sword contemn even the rod?" Eze 21:13, and be drenched in the gall of these sturdy rebels? what then?

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

in all vineyards . . . wailing--where usually songs of joy were heard.

pass through thee--taking vengeance (Exo 12:12, Exo 12:23; Nah 1:12). "Pass over" and "pass by," on the contrary, are used of God's forgiving (Exo 12:23; Mic 7:18; compare Amo 7:8).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing] The places where festivity especially used to prevail.

I will pass through thee] As I passed, by the ministry of the destroying angel, through Egypt, not to spare, but to destroy.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

A reason is now added, why the whole country would be taken up with lamentation and mourning; for the Lord would pass through the whole land. Surely nothing was more to be desired, than that God should visit his own land; but he here declares that he would pass through as an enemy. As then an enemy runs through a country and spreads devastation wherever he comes, such would be the passing through, which the Prophet now threatens. “God, then, of whom ye boast, as dwelling in the midst of you, will come forth, lay waste, and consume the whole land, as when an enemy spreads ruin far and wide.”

But the Prophet seems to allude to the passing of God, described by Moses in Exodus 11. The Lord then passed through the middle of Egypt; that is, his wrath pervaded the whole land; no corner was safe or tranquil, for God’s vengeance penetrated through every part of it. So also now the Prophet intimates, that the land of Israel would be like that of Egypt; for the Lord, who then testified his love towards the children of Abraham, would now, on the contrary, show himself an enemy to them, while passing through the midst of them. And the Prophet again indirectly ridicules the vain confidence by which the Israelites were blinded, while they used God’s name as a pretext, as it will more clearly appear from what follows, for he says —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

17. The wailing will embrace even the vineyards, which, as the season of vintage came round, were annually the scenes of mirth and hilarity (Isa_16:10).

for I will pass through the midst of thee] viz. as a destroyer (cf. Exo_12:12), guiding, as it were, the foe by whose agency Amos conceives the disaster to be accomplished.

(2) Amo_5:18-27. A rebuke, addressed to those who desired the “Day of Jehovah,” and trusted to the splendour and regularity of their religious services, to secure for them Jehovah’s favour. They have mistaken the principles upon which Jehovah acts: His ‘day,’ when it arrives, will be a day on which, so far from sparing them for their zealous discharge of ritual observances, He will consign them to exile for their disregard of moral obligations.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And in all vineyards shall be wailing,.... The vines being destroyed, and no grapes to be gathered, and put into the press; when there used to be great shoutings, and large expressions of joy, at the gathering in of the vintage, and pressing the grapes; but now there shall be a different tone; see Jer 48:32;

for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord; through their cities, towns, and country, fields and vineyards, and destroy all in his way, as he passed through Egypt when he destroyed their firstborn.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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

For I will pass through thee - In the destruction of the firstborn in Egypt, God did not “pass through” but “passed over” them, and they kept, in memory thereof the feast of the Passover. Now God would no longer “pass over” them and their sins. He says, “I will pass through thee,” 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” Exo 12:12. As God says by Hosea, “I will not enter the city” Hos 11:9, that is, He would not make His presence felt, or take cognizance, when to take cognizance would be to punish, so here, contrariwise, He says, “I will pass through,” taking exact and severe account, in judgment. Jerome further says, “so 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 whereon their city was built, “He passed through the midst of them Luk 4:30, so that they could not see Him nor know Him, “and so went His way.” And this, when He had just told them, that none of the widows of Israel were fed by Elias, or the lepers cleansed by Elisha, save the widow of Sarepta, and Naaman the Syrian. So should their leprosy cleave to them, and the famine of the word of God and of the oil of the Holy Spirit abide among them, while the Gentiles were washed by His laver and fed with the bread of life.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In all vineyards shall be wailing: in these places was usually the greatest jollity, and they gathered their vintage with joy; but now it is quite contrary, either vines are blasted, or eaten up, or destroyed of the enemy.

I will pass through thee, as an incensed God, punishing all, every where, who have sinned against him; and therefore every place now shall be full of sorrow, because every place hath been full of sin.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vineyards. The place of mirth and gladness, that, says St. Jerome, "ubi quondam fuit materia laetitiae, sit origo lacrymarum". (Isa_16:10) I will pass through thee. A terrible echo of the last plague of Egypt, (Exo_12:12) when God will not "pass over" thee as he did then, but treat thee as Egypt, and "pass through" to smite and punish. (Nah_1:12)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vineyards - In these places were usually the greatest joy. Pass through - To punish all everywhere.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.