Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.
And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.
The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.
Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
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.
For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 7 serves as a stark and sobering prophecy, a second sermon that relentlessly drives home the message of impending judgment upon Judah. It’s a declaration that the end has come, not just to a region, but to "the four corners of the earth" (Ezekiel 7:2), emphasizing the comprehensive and unavoidable nature of God's wrath. This chapter leaves no room for complacency, shattering any illusion of escape or reprieve.
The Imminent Judgment
The tone is one of urgency. There will be no relenting. God’s fierce anger will judge and punish His people for their detestable practices without pity, until they come to know that Yahweh was their true God (Ezekiel 7:3-4). This judgment is not arbitrary; it’s a direct consequence of Judah’s persistent idolatry and moral decay. It’s a rude awakening for a people lulled into a false sense of security. They celebrated their idolatry believing God didn’t see them or wouldn’t act because they were still his people, doing their religious duty at the temple (alongside their false worship). They felt secure because of the prosperity in Jerusalem and they had false prophets telling them that everything was fine. The suddenness of Judah’s judgment is pictured as a herald running to unsuspecting people with an announcement of imminent disaster (Ezekiel 7:5) that is so close it would cause panic on the mountains among the idolaters (Ezekiel 7:7).
Shattered Illusions
The illusion of safety and prosperity is about to be shattered. God promises to exhaust His anger by punishing them for their sins without pity until they learned that He was the one who was judging them and that their misfortunes weren’t just terrible coincidences (Ezekiel 7:8-9). God uses the imagery of a budding plant to illustrate this message, much like when Jeremiah spoke of an almond tree in bloom (Jeremiah 1:11-12) to illustrate coming judgment. So here the message was the same, except that in this case the blossom was Judah’s arrogance producing the violence that would come upon the people to punish their wickedness (Ezekiel 7:10-11). The coming judgment will reveal the vanity of their misplaced trust.
The Worthless Crowd
Interestingly, God uses the term "crowd" four times in Ezekiel 7:10-14 as a term of derision for people who are considered hopeless, those about whom little that’s positive can be said. That crowd in Jerusalem included those of wealth, the eminent—the merchants who had accumulated a lot of gold and silver by their transactions (Ezekiel 7:11). The chapter highlights the futility of wealth in the face of divine judgment. God’s judgment, then, would also have economic consequences, which will always happen when his people ignore his kingdom agenda and misuse wealth for their own greed and self-satisfaction. When the Babylonians began to attack and besiege Jerusalem, both the buyer and the seller would suffer loss, for all of their commerce and profit would mean nothing: all would be lost (Ezekiel 7:12-13). And the city would find no help in its army, because it was part of the whole crowd, which was utterly useless in the day of Jerusalem’s disaster (Ezekiel 7:14). The merchants who accumulated wealth through their transactions will find their riches utterly worthless. This underscores a timeless principle: material possessions cannot shield us from God's judgment.
No Escape
Ezekiel paints a grim picture of inescapable doom. There was simply no place to go to escape. Those who tried to run away would find the sword of the Babylonians waiting to kill them; those who stayed inside Jerusalem would face plague and famine; and those who hid in the mountains would wail and moan at the catastrophe (Ezekiel 7:15-16). If the rest of this sermon points back to Jerusalem, it pictures a people shaking so hard in terror that they literally wet themselves and try in vain to show some repentance by wearing sackcloth and shaving their heads bald (Ezekiel 7:17-18). The silver and gold they valued so highly gets discarded in disgust as they realize it will not satisfy their appetites. After all, these things were the stumbling blocks that brought about their iniquity. They would become plunder for the Babylonians (Ezekiel 7:19-21). Whether they seek refuge in flight or remain within the city walls, death and destruction await. This emphasizes the all-encompassing nature of the judgment, leaving no room for human ingenuity or strength to avert it.
Profaned Temple
Most shocking of all is that God would allow the Babylonians to profane his holy temple (Ezekiel 7:22). At this revelation, the exiles listening to Ezekiel in Babylon and the recipients of his prophecies back in Jerusalem knew the full horrors of God’s coming judgment. Jerusalem would no longer be the city of peace, but the place from which they would be led in chains. Though the people would listen frantically to all kinds of rumors coming out of Babylon and other places that spoke of rescue or relief, they would all prove false. Nothing would hold back God’s hand until his sinful people had learned that he alone is God (Ezekiel 7:25-27). The ultimate humiliation will be the desecration of the temple, the very symbol of God's presence among His people. This act signifies the complete withdrawal of God's protection and favor, leaving Judah utterly vulnerable.
Ezekiel 7 is a powerful reminder that ignoring God's commands and pursuing selfish desires ultimately leads to destruction. It is a call to examine our own lives, to ensure that we are not placing our trust in fleeting possessions or false securities, but in the one true God. The message resonates even today, urging us to seek repentance and live in accordance with His will.
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.
And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.
The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.
Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
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.
For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 7 serves as a stark and sobering prophecy, a second sermon that relentlessly drives home the message of impending judgment upon Judah. It’s a declaration that the end has come, not just to a region, but to "the four corners of the earth" (Ezekiel 7:2), emphasizing the comprehensive and unavoidable nature of God's wrath. This chapter leaves no room for complacency, shattering any illusion of escape or reprieve.
The Imminent Judgment
The tone is one of urgency. There will be no relenting. God’s fierce anger will judge and punish His people for their detestable practices without pity, until they come to know that Yahweh was their true God (Ezekiel 7:3-4). This judgment is not arbitrary; it’s a direct consequence of Judah’s persistent idolatry and moral decay. It’s a rude awakening for a people lulled into a false sense of security. They celebrated their idolatry believing God didn’t see them or wouldn’t act because they were still his people, doing their religious duty at the temple (alongside their false worship). They felt secure because of the prosperity in Jerusalem and they had false prophets telling them that everything was fine. The suddenness of Judah’s judgment is pictured as a herald running to unsuspecting people with an announcement of imminent disaster (Ezekiel 7:5) that is so close it would cause panic on the mountains among the idolaters (Ezekiel 7:7).
Shattered Illusions
The illusion of safety and prosperity is about to be shattered. God promises to exhaust His anger by punishing them for their sins without pity until they learned that He was the one who was judging them and that their misfortunes weren’t just terrible coincidences (Ezekiel 7:8-9). God uses the imagery of a budding plant to illustrate this message, much like when Jeremiah spoke of an almond tree in bloom (Jeremiah 1:11-12) to illustrate coming judgment. So here the message was the same, except that in this case the blossom was Judah’s arrogance producing the violence that would come upon the people to punish their wickedness (Ezekiel 7:10-11). The coming judgment will reveal the vanity of their misplaced trust.
The Worthless Crowd
Interestingly, God uses the term "crowd" four times in Ezekiel 7:10-14 as a term of derision for people who are considered hopeless, those about whom little that’s positive can be said. That crowd in Jerusalem included those of wealth, the eminent—the merchants who had accumulated a lot of gold and silver by their transactions (Ezekiel 7:11). The chapter highlights the futility of wealth in the face of divine judgment. God’s judgment, then, would also have economic consequences, which will always happen when his people ignore his kingdom agenda and misuse wealth for their own greed and self-satisfaction. When the Babylonians began to attack and besiege Jerusalem, both the buyer and the seller would suffer loss, for all of their commerce and profit would mean nothing: all would be lost (Ezekiel 7:12-13). And the city would find no help in its army, because it was part of the whole crowd, which was utterly useless in the day of Jerusalem’s disaster (Ezekiel 7:14). The merchants who accumulated wealth through their transactions will find their riches utterly worthless. This underscores a timeless principle: material possessions cannot shield us from God's judgment.
No Escape
Ezekiel paints a grim picture of inescapable doom. There was simply no place to go to escape. Those who tried to run away would find the sword of the Babylonians waiting to kill them; those who stayed inside Jerusalem would face plague and famine; and those who hid in the mountains would wail and moan at the catastrophe (Ezekiel 7:15-16). If the rest of this sermon points back to Jerusalem, it pictures a people shaking so hard in terror that they literally wet themselves and try in vain to show some repentance by wearing sackcloth and shaving their heads bald (Ezekiel 7:17-18). The silver and gold they valued so highly gets discarded in disgust as they realize it will not satisfy their appetites. After all, these things were the stumbling blocks that brought about their iniquity. They would become plunder for the Babylonians (Ezekiel 7:19-21). Whether they seek refuge in flight or remain within the city walls, death and destruction await. This emphasizes the all-encompassing nature of the judgment, leaving no room for human ingenuity or strength to avert it.
Profaned Temple
Most shocking of all is that God would allow the Babylonians to profane his holy temple (Ezekiel 7:22). At this revelation, the exiles listening to Ezekiel in Babylon and the recipients of his prophecies back in Jerusalem knew the full horrors of God’s coming judgment. Jerusalem would no longer be the city of peace, but the place from which they would be led in chains. Though the people would listen frantically to all kinds of rumors coming out of Babylon and other places that spoke of rescue or relief, they would all prove false. Nothing would hold back God’s hand until his sinful people had learned that he alone is God (Ezekiel 7:25-27). The ultimate humiliation will be the desecration of the temple, the very symbol of God's presence among His people. This act signifies the complete withdrawal of God's protection and favor, leaving Judah utterly vulnerable.
Ezekiel 7 is a powerful reminder that ignoring God's commands and pursuing selfish desires ultimately leads to destruction. It is a call to examine our own lives, to ensure that we are not placing our trust in fleeting possessions or false securities, but in the one true God. The message resonates even today, urging us to seek repentance and live in accordance with His will.