Ezekiel 7:12

12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Don't let the buyer be happy or the seller be sad, because my burning anger is against the whole crowd.

Ezekiel 7:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 7:12

The time is come, the day draweth near
According to the Targum, the time of the recompence of iniquities, and the day of punishment of sins; of the sins of the Jews, by the Chaldean army, which no doubt is true; but it seems chiefly to refer to what follows: and the sense is, the time was coming on, in which let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn;
it is usual for the buyer of houses or lands to rejoice, because an addition is made to his estate, and especially when he has made, as he thinks, a good purchase; and the seller, he mourns because he is obliged to part with his estate to pay his debts, and so is reduced in his circumstances; but now the time was coming when the one would have no occasion to rejoice, nor the other to mourn; not the buyer rejoice, because, being carried captive, he cannot enjoy his possessions; nor the seller mourn, because, if he had not sold his house or field, he must have left it: for wrath [is] upon all the multitude thereof;
upon the whole body of the Jewish nation, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, buyer and seller; those that are in good circumstances, and those that are in bad ones; so that hereby they were all upon a level, in the same case and condition.

Ezekiel 7:12 In-Context

10 "Look, the day is here. It has come. Disaster has come, violence has grown, and there is more pride than ever.

11 Violence has grown into a weapon for punishing wickedness. None of the people will be left -- none of that crowd, none of their wealth, and nothing of value.

12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Don't let the buyer be happy or the seller be sad, because my burning anger is against the whole crowd.

13 Sellers will not return to the land they have sold as long as they live, because the vision against all that crowd will not be changed. Because of their sins, they will not save their lives.

14 They have blown the trumpet, and everything is ready. But no one is going to the battle, because my anger is against all that crowd.