Amos 9:3
And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
Amos 9:3 stands within chapters 6 to 9 of the prophecy of Amos, a herdsman and fruit gardener from Tekoa who was called to go to Bethel and Samaria to prophesy to the northern kingdom against its idolatry and depravity. The top of Carmel fits the region where the caves used as hiding places by worshippers of the true God were likely located.
The wording about being hid from sight in the bottom of the sea does not mean successfully escaping God's notice and reach, but aiming, endeavoring, and seeking to hide. It reflects a Hebrew idiom in which verbs of action signify only the will and endeavor to do the action, using the action verb for the intended effort rather than its successful result. No hiding place on Carmel or in the depths of the sea can put anyone beyond God's knowledge and reach, for God searches out and brings forth the fugitive. This describes God's universal, searching presence, not his saving presence.
The verse belongs to prophecies that typify last-day conditions, when after the wicked have rejected God's word, calamity will come and they will be unable to find that word though they search from sea to sea and from north to south. The surrounding chapter's prophecies also point to God saving his people and restoring the fallen tabernacle of David.