The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

EZEKIEL 7:12KJV
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Ezekiel 7:12 (KJV)

What does Ezekiel 7:12 mean?

Ezekiel 7:12 warns that the time of judgment has arrived, so neither buyers nor sellers should expect normal life to continue; both will be affected because God’s anger is coming upon everyone. The verse tells people not to celebrate business gains or grieve business losses, since disaster is about to strike all alike.

The prophet Ezekiel is speaking God’s message to the people of Judah, warning them that the day of reckoning is very close. In this context, everyday activities like buying and selling will lose their meaning because God’s wrath is about to fall on the whole community, disrupting all normal life and business.

The Hebrew behind Ezekiel 7:12

  • "Time" (עֵת, ‘et): This word often points to a specific, decisive moment. Here, it emphasizes that the long-awaited moment of judgment has finally arrived.
  • "Wrath" (חֵמָה, ḥēmāh): This word means intense anger or fury. Its use here underlines that what is coming is not just hardship, but a direct outpouring of God’s anger on the people.
  • "Multitude" (הָמוֹן, hāmôn): This word refers to a crowd or the whole population. The verse stresses that no one is exempt—God’s wrath will affect everyone, not just a few individuals.

Why Ezekiel 7:12 matters

  • Ezekiel 7:12 makes clear that God’s judgment will disrupt all aspects of life, even ordinary business, showing how total the coming disaster will be.
  • The verse highlights that both buyers and sellers—people on both sides of economic transactions—will suffer alike, removing any sense of security in wealth or business.
  • This verse connects to the larger message of Ezekiel 7, where the prophet describes the end of normal life in Jerusalem because of the people’s persistent wrongdoing.

Where else these words appear

“mourn” Hebrew H56 · used in 38 verses

  • Genesis 37:34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
  • Nehemiah 1:4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
  • Jeremiah 14:2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

“wrath” Hebrew H2740 · used in 40 verses

  • Exodus 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
  • Nehemiah 13:18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.
  • Jeremiah 25:37 And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

“seller” Hebrew H4376 · used in 74 verses

  • Genesis 25:31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
  • Leviticus 25:39 And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:
  • 2 Kings 17:17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

“buyer” Hebrew H7069 · used in 76 verses

  • Genesis 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
  • Joshua 24:32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
  • Proverbs 17:16 Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?