Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.
The wail is commanded from the dwellers of Maktesh in Jerusalem, because the whole body of traders is to be struck down and every carrier of silver to be cut off. That cutting down reaches the city's merchants and possessors of silver, showing that commerce and accumulated wealth give no shelter when the Lord executes judgment. No dealing in silver and no possession of it can keep anyone from being cut off when the day of the Lord's wrath arrives, and silver together with gold is powerless to deliver from its distress.
This cutting off of merchants belongs to the judgment pronounced against the land, whose approaching day of the Lord is a day of wrath and distress. It is a warning of judgment upon evildoers, directed against a widespread casting aside of God's law by those who have enjoyed great light and full opportunity to know God. Before that day breaks, the meek of the land are called to seek the Lord and to seek righteousness with meekness.
The wail is commanded from the dwellers of Maktesh in Jerusalem, because the whole body of traders is to be struck down and every carrier of silver to be cut off. That cutting down reaches the city's merchants and possessors of silver, showing that commerce and accumulated wealth give no shelter when the Lord executes judgment. No dealing in silver and no possession of it can keep anyone from being cut off when the day of the Lord's wrath arrives, and silver together with gold is powerless to deliver from its distress.
This cutting off of merchants belongs to the judgment pronounced against the land, whose approaching day of the Lord is a day of wrath and distress. It is a warning of judgment upon evildoers, directed against a widespread casting aside of God's law by those who have enjoyed great light and full opportunity to know God. Before that day breaks, the meek of the land are called to seek the Lord and to seek righteousness with meekness.