Amos 5:17

"And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah."

I will pass through ..." For ages, at the time Amos wrote, Israel had observed the Passover Feast which celebrated the "passing over" of Israel in the visitation of the death of the firstborn upon the land of Egypt; and the terrible contrast evident in this verse is that God, instead of "passing over" Israel in the forthcoming judgment will instead "pass through the midst" of them, indicating that there would be no mitigation of the penalty for their wickedness.

"Amos was reminding Israel that God had been passing by in judgment, as he did that night in Egypt. But now, he would not pass by them any more. He would pass through their midst and leave a trail of tears as he had in the homes of the Egyptians."[39]

This sobering thought with reference to these stern words is that there is not a line of exaggeration anywhere in them. All that is foretold here happened exactly as God had promised; and that proud, arrogant and rebellious people were led away to their doom, never more to appear as an organized entity upon the earth! What a tragedy that none of them, or at the most, very few of them, believed the impassioned warning of the shepherd prophet.