Amos says days are coming when the LORD will send a famine—not of bread or water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. People will wander to seek the word of the LORD but will not find it. See Amos 8:11–12.
In Amos 8:11–12, Yahweh announces a coming “famine” unlike lack of food or water. The shortage will be the ability to hear Yahweh’s words—divine communication that normally guides and corrects. In response, people will roam widely and urgently search for Yahweh’s word, but the search will fail. These lines occur in Amos’s later judgment section where visions and announcements intensify. Just before this, the chapter targets dishonest commerce and the exploitation of the needy, then warns of national mourning and upheaval (8:4–10).
Amos 8:11–12 presents a coming judgment described as a “famine,” but the text explicitly says it is not a shortage of food or water. The lack is the ability to “hear the words of Yahweh” (word). That is, divine communication that would normally guide, correct, and expose wrongdoing is withdrawn.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Amos 8:11-12, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
11Behold, the days come, says the Lord Yahweh, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh.
12They shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run back and forth to seek the word of Yahweh, and shall not find it.