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Ezekiel 27

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A Lamentation for Tyre 1–4

1
The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying,
2
And thou, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre; ​
3
and say unto Tyre, O thou that dwellest at the entry of the sea, that art the merchant of the peoples unto many isles, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou, O Tyre, hast said, I am perfect in beauty. ​
4
Thy borders are in the heart of the seas; thy builders have perfected thy beauty. ​

The Splendor of Tyre's Ship 5–11

5
They have made all thy planks of fir-trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for thee.
6
Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of Kittim. ​
7
Of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thine awning.
8
The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee, they were thy pilots.
9
The old men of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to deal in thy merchandise. ​
10
Persia and Lud and Put were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness. ​
11
The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and valorous men were in thy towers; they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have perfected thy beauty.

Tyre's Vast Commercial Empire 12–25

12
Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for thy wares. ​
13
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for thy merchandise. ​
14
They of the house of Togarmah traded for thy wares with horses and war-horses and mules.
15
The men of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hand: they brought thee in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.
16
Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of thy handiworks: they traded for thy wares with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies.
17
Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy traffickers: they traded for thy merchandise wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. ​
18
Damascus was thy merchant for the multitude of thy handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool.
19
Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for thy wares: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were among thy merchandise.
20
Dedan was thy trafficker in precious cloths for riding.
21
Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of thy hand; in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these were they thy merchants.
22
The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy traffickers; they traded for thy wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
23
Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were thy traffickers.
24
These were thy traffickers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
25
The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy merchandise: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas. ​

The Shipwreck and Global Mourning 26–36

26
Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the seas. ​
27
Thy riches, and thy wares, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the dealers in thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, with all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy ruin. ​
28
At the sound of the cry of thy pilots the suburbs shall shake.
29
And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships; they shall stand upon the land,
30
and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads; they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
31
and they shall make themselves bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.
32
And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, Who is there like Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea? ​
33
When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many peoples; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
34
In the time that thou wast broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thy company did fall in the midst of thee.
35
All the inhabitants of the isles are astonished at thee, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their countenance.
36
The merchants among the peoples hiss at thee; thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezekiel 27

Verse 2

take up a lamentation for Tyrus — Qinah is the funeral dirge, the word 26:17 gave to the princes of the sea; now Ezekiel is told to raise it himself. The same charge is given for her king (28:12) and for Pharaoh (32:2). The lament runs to the end of the chapter, with the account of her trade at its centre.

Verse 3

I am of perfect beauty — The words 'perfect beauty' (kalil yofi) are what Scripture says of Zion: 'The perfection of beauty' (Lam 2:15), and 'Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined' (Ps 50:2, a related word). Here Tyre says them of herself. Jerusalem's beauty was 'perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee' (16:14).

Verse 4

thy builders have perfected thy beauty — 'Perfected' is kalal, the root of 'perfect' in v.3, and it comes again in v.11, 'they have made thy beauty perfect'. 'In the midst of the seas' is literally 'in the heart of the seas' (leb yammim), and the phrase returns in v.26, where the east wind breaks her there.

Verse 6

the oaks of Bashan… the isles of Chittim — Bashan's oaks stand among the high and lofty things in Isa 2:13 and Zech 11:2, here shaped into oars. Chittim (Kittim) is a son of Javan (Gen 10:4), and its 'isles' are named with Kedar in Jer 2:10; Isaiah says of Tyre that 'from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them' (Isa 23:1).

Verse 9

the ancients of Gebal — Gebal appears in 'the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon' (Josh 13:5) and with 'the inhabitants of Tyre' in Ps 83:7. Its elders and wise men serve Tyre as 'calkers' (bedeq, the mending of a gap). 'Merchandise' here is ma'arab, which occurs only in this chapter (vv.9, 13, 17, 19, 25, 27, 33, 34), as does 'fairs' (izzabon).

Verse 10

Persia and of Lud and of Phut — Tyre's army is foreign: Lud is a son of Shem (Gen 10:22) and Phut a son of Ham (Gen 10:6); the KJV renders them 'Lydia' and 'Libya' in 30:5. They 'hanged the shield and helmet' on her walls (v.11), and 'set forth thy comeliness' (hadar, splendour): the soldiers add to her glory.

Verse 12

Tarshish was thy merchant — Tarshish is a son of Javan (Gen 10:4). Solomon's 'navy of Tharshish' sailed with Hiram's, bringing 'gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks' (1 Kings 10:22), and Isaiah tells the ships of Tarshish to howl at Tyre's fall (Isa 23:1). 'Merchant' (sachar, to trade) recurs in vv.16, 18, 21 and 36.

Verse 13

they traded the persons of men — Javan (rendered 'Grecia' in Dan 8:21), Tubal and Meshech are sons of Japheth (Gen 10:2). 'Persons of men' (nephesh adam) are human beings sold, and Revelation ends its list of Babylon's cargo in the same way, 'slaves, and souls of men' (Rev 18:13). Joel says Tyre sold Judah's children to the Grecians (Joel 3:6).

Verse 17

Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants — The wheat, honey, oil and balm are the produce of the land: Solomon sent Hiram wheat and 'pure oil' year by year (1 Kings 5:11), and there was 'balm in Gilead' (Jer 8:22; tsori). In Acts 12:20 Tyre and Sidon still sought peace with Herod because 'their country was nourished by the king's country'.

Verse 25

thou wast replenished — Male, the word of Tyre's own boast over Jerusalem, 'I shall be replenished' (26:2). Here it is granted, 'made very glorious in the midst of the seas', ahead of the fall in v.26. The 'ships of Tarshish' are named again in Isa 23:14, 'Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste'.

Verse 26

the east wind hath broken thee — 'Thy rowers' (shut, to row) have brought her out 'into great waters', the phrase of 26:19, 'great waters shall cover thee'. 'Broken' is shabar, the word Tyre used of Jerusalem in 26:2, 'she is broken'. The 'east wind' breaks the 'ships of Tarshish' in Ps 48:7.

Verse 27

in the day of thy ruin — Everything named earlier in the lament goes down with her: her riches, calkers (v.9), mariners and men of war (v.10). 'Ruin' is mappeleth, 'fall', the word of 26:15, 18. 'Riches profit not in the day of wrath' (Prov 11:4), and v.34 repeats that her 'merchandise and all thy company' shall fall.

Verse 32

What city is like Tyrus — The mourners' cry takes the form of a question; Revelation has it for Babylon, 'What city is like unto this great city!' (Rev 18:18). 'Lament' (qun) and 'lamentation' (qinah) share a root, and 'destroyed' (dummah), meaning desolation, is found only here.

Verse 36

The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee — Those who traded with her, sachar as in v.12, 'hiss' (sharaq) as at a city made desolate (Jer 19:8). 'Thou shalt be a terror' ends the lament as 26:21 and 28:19 end the oracle; in Revelation the merchants 'weep and mourn' over Babylon (Rev 18:11).