Amos 8:12

12 ¹They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, ²but they shall not find it.

Amos 8:12 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 8:12

And they shall wander from sea to sea
From the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee; or from the Dead sea, the lake Asphaltites; or from the Red sea, which was to the south of the land of Israel, to the great sea, which is to the west, as Aben Ezra: so the Targum,

``from the sea to the west;''

that is, to the Mediterranean sea: and from the north even to the east;
proceeding from the south to the west, they shall turn from thence to the north, and so to the east, which describes the borders of the land of Canaan, ( Numbers 34:3-12 ) ; and the sense is, that they shall go to and fro;
throughout the whole land, and all over it, to seek the word of the Lord;
not the written word, but the interpretation of it; doctrine from before the Lord, as the Targum; the preaching of the word, or ministers to instruct them in it; or the word of prophecy, and prophets to tell them when it would be better times, and how long their present distress should last: and shall not find [it];
there should be no ministry, no preaching, no prophesying; as never since among the ten tribes, so it has been the case of the Jews, the two tribes, upon the rejection of the Messiah; the Gospel was taken from them; no tidings could they hear of the Messiah, though they ran to and fro to find him, it being told them Lo, here, and Lo, there; see ( John 7:34-36 ) ( Luke 17:22 ) .

Amos 8:12 In-Context

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 “Behold, the days are coming, ” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.

13 “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.

14 Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan, ’and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives, ’they shall fall, and never rise again. ”

Cross References

• 1. 8:12 [See ver. 11 above]
• 2. 8:12 [ch. 4:8]