Denotes a wholesale trader who imports goods, distinguished in classical Greek from the small-scale retailer (kapelos). Jesus uses the figure positively in the parable of the merchant seeking fine pearls, who sells everything to acquire the pearl of great price (Matt 13:45). Revelation paints a strikingly different picture: the merchants of the earth grow rich through Babylon's luxury (Rev 18:3, 11, 15) and weep at her fall because no one buys their cargo anymore (Rev 18:23). Spanish 'mercaderes' and French 'marchand' both carry the sense of a large-scale dealer.