Amos 8:12

12 And they shall be moved (al)together from the sea till to the sea, and from the north till to the east they shall compass (about), seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find. (And they shall wander about from the Dead Sea unto the Mediterranean Sea, and they shall go all around, from the north unto the east, seeking the word of the Lord, but 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 And I shall convert your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into wailing; and I shall bring in on each back of you a sackcloth, and on each head of you baldness; and I shall put it as the mourning of [an] one begotten son, and the last things thereof as a bitter day. (And I shall turn your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into wailing; and I shall put a sackcloth on every back, and baldness on every head; and I shall make it like the mourning for an only son, and the last things, or the end, of it shall be like a bitter day.)

11 Lo! the days come, saith the Lord [God], and I shall send out hunger into (the) earth; not hunger of bread, neither thirst of water, but of hearing the word of God (Lo! the days shall come, saith the Lord God, and I shall send out hunger, or famine, into the earth; not a hunger for food, or a thirst for water, but a hunger for hearing the word of God.)

12 And they shall be moved (al)together from the sea till to the sea, and from the north till to the east they shall compass (about), seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find. (And they shall wander about from the Dead Sea unto the Mediterranean Sea, and they shall go all around, from the north unto the east, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.)

13 In that day fair maidens shall fail, and young men in thirst, (On that day beautiful young women, and strong young men, shall fail for thirst,)

14 which swear in the trespass of Samaria, and say, Dan, thy god liveth, and the way of Beersheba liveth; and they shall fall, and they shall no more rise again. (yea, they who swear by the trespass of Samaria, and say, O Dan, as thy god liveth, or By the god of Dan, and By the sacred way of Beersheba; they all shall fall, and they shall never rise again.)