Amos 8:12

12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

Amos 8:12 in Other Translations

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

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.

12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

12 People will drift from one end of the country to the other, roam to the north, wander to the east. They'll go anywhere, listen to anyone, hoping to hear God's Word - but they won't hear it.

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it.

12 People will wander from sea to sea and roam from the north to the east, searching for the word of the LORD. But they won't find it.

12 People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

12 People will wander from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. They will travel from north to east. They will look for a message from me. But they will 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 religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

13 “In that day “the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.

14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria— who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’— they will fall, never to rise again.”

Cross References

• 1. S Ezekiel 20:3,31