Ezekiel 7:12
in Ezekiel 7The time has come; the day has arrived. Let the buyer not rejoice and the seller not mourn, for wrath is upon the whole multitude.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Ezekiel 7
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 12.) The time has come, the day is approaching. It is not only said of Jerusalem that the time of its captivity has come and the day has approached when it will be besieged by the Babylonian army, but also to the one who was rejoicing in his built and expanded storehouses, the Lord speaks: Fool, tonight your soul will be taken from you; and the things which you have prepared, whose will they be (Luke 12:20)? From where the Apostle also says: The time, he says, has been shortened (1 Corinthians 7:29).
This site's exposition
the rod has budded, arrogance has bloomed
on Ezekiel 7:10-12
The image turns: “the rod has budded, arrogance has bloomed,” the nation’s pride. The same word bears the opposite weight: “Their violence has grown into a rod to punish their wickedness.” “Let the buyer not rejoice and the seller not mourn,” since no one will keep what changes hands.
This site's exposition
Let the buyer not rejoice
The time has come, and ordinary trade loses its meaning. Adam Clarke explains that the seller need not grieve over land he sold, and the buyer need not celebrate, for the enemy would take everything. Wrath lies on the whole multitude.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
); the whole body of the nation has become a vessel of wrath, fitted for destruction. God does sometimes in wrath remember mercy, but now he says, My eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The time is come, the day draweth near,....
Though threatened judgments may be long deferred, yet they shall not be dropped; the time for executing them will come. Though God's patience may put them off, nothing but man's sincere repentance and reformation will put them by.
Those that have sold are the more easy, having the less to lose, and those that have bought have but increased their own cares and fears. Because the fashion of this world passes away, let those that buy be as though they possessed not, because they know not how soon they may be dispossessed, 1 Cor. vii.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn - Such is now the state of public affairs, that he who through want has been obliged to sell his inheritance, need not mourn on the account; as of this the enemy would soon have deprived him. And he who has bought it need not rejoice in his bargain, as he shall soon be stripped of his purchase, and either fall by the sword, or be glad to flee for his life.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Spiritually this holds good now, seeing that "the time is short"; "they that rejoice should be as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not": Paul (1Co 7:30) seems to allude to Ezekiel here. Jer 32:15, 37, 43, seems to contradict Ezekiel here. But Ezekiel is speaking of the parents, and of the present;
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The day - Either of temporal or final judgment. It was grievous for an Israelite to part with his land. But now the seller need not mourn his loss, nor the buyer exult in him gain. All should live the pitiful lives of strangers in another country.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
neither will the seller mourn Although one who sells his field usually grieves, he will not grieve because you are destined to go into exile.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The violence has arisen, etc. The violence in your hands has risen upon you as a staff of wickedness to destroy you.
For the seller will not return to that which was sold Once he goes into exile, he will not return and will no longer see the field that he had sold; so why should he mourn?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בָּ֤א | ba' | it has come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| הָעֵת֙ | haet | the time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| הִגִּ֣יעַ | higia' | it has arrived | H5060 → | 150 times |
| הַיּ֔וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַקּוֹנֶה֙ | hakoneh | the buyer | H7069 → | |
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| יִשְׂמָ֔ח | yismach | he rejoice | H8055 → | 155 times |
| וְהַמּוֹכֵ֖ר | vehamokher | and the seller | H4376 → | 80 times |
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| יִתְאַבָּ֑ל | yitabal | he mourn | H56 → | 39 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| חָר֖וֹן | charon | anger | H2740 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | [is] against | H413 → | 5510 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הֲמוֹנָֽהּ׃ | hamonah | multitude its | H1995 → | 83 times |
בָּ֤אit has come
ba'H935 →2568 times
הָעֵת֙the time
haetH6256 →296 times
הִגִּ֣יעַit has arrived
higia'H5060 →150 times
הַיּ֔וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַקּוֹנֶה֙the buyer
hakonehH7069 →
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
יִשְׂמָ֔חhe rejoice
yismachH8055 →155 times
וְהַמּוֹכֵ֖רand the seller
vehamokherH4376 →80 times
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
יִתְאַבָּ֑לhe mourn
yitabalH56 →39 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
חָר֖וֹןanger
charonH2740 →
אֶל־[is] against
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הֲמוֹנָֽהּ׃multitude its
hamonahH1995 →83 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 7:10Behold, the day is here! It has come! Doom has gone out, the rod has budded, arrogance has bloomed.
it leads to
- Isaiah 10:5
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
- James 4:6
But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Numbers 17:8
The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.
- Isaiah 10:5
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.