M2 j 1-25. Opulence. Influx.
k 26,27. Ruin.
l 28-32. Commiseration.
j 32. Opulence. Efflux.
k 34. Ruin.
l 35,36. Astonishment.
478 B.C.
Ezekiel 27)
1 The word of the LORD (Yahaveh) came again to me, saying,
2 "Now, you son of man (see 2:1), take up a lamentation for Tyre;
3 And say to Tyre, 'O you that are situate at the entry of the sea (denoting the insular Tyre), which are a merchant of the peoples for many coasts (or, maritime lands), Thus says the Lord GOD (Adonai Yehovah); 'O Tyre, you have said, 'I am of perfect beauty.'
4 Your borders are in the midst of the seas, your sons have perfected your beauty.
5 They have made all your planks of Cypress trees of Mount Hermon (See Deut. 3:9): they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for you.
6 Of the oaks of Bashan have they made your oars; a daughter (or branch) of the Ashurites have made your benches of ivory (Ginsberg thinks this clause should read, "they have made your benches with ivory [and] box-wood [or cypress]", dividing and pointing the words differently. See 31:3; and cp. Isa. 41:19; 60:13), brought out of the isles of Chittim (Probably Cyprus).
7 Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was that which you spread forth to be your sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah (the coasts of Peloponnesus. Mentioned in Gen. 10:4 with Javan [Ionia]) was that which covered you.
8 The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad (now the island Er Raud. Mentioned in 1 Macc. 15:23) were your rowers: your wise men, O Tyre, they were in you, were your pilots.
9 The elders of Gebal (now Jebeil, on the coast between Beirut and Tripoli) and the wise men thereof were in you your breach: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to barter (or trade) your merchandise.
10 They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut (cp. Gen. 10:6,13) were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in you; they set forth your comeliness.
11 The sons of Arvad with your army were upon your walls round about, and the Gammadims (or valiant men) were in your towers: they hanged their shields upon your walls round about; they have made your beauty perfect.
12 Tarshish (see 1 Kings 10:22) was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in your fairs.
13 Javan (= Ionia. Cp. Gen. 10:4. These are name together in Gen. 10:2), Tubal, and Meshech, they were your merchants: they traded the souls (referring to the slave trade. See Rev. 18:13) of mankind and vessels of brass in your market.
14 They of the house of Togarmah (Gen. 10:3. Probably Armenia) traded in your fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.
15 The sons of Dedan were your merchants; many isles were the merchandise of your hand: they brought you for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
16 Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of your making: they traded in your fairs with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
17 Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your merchants: they traded in your market wheat of Minnith (an Ammorite town not yet identified. Miney, south of Nebo is suggested. Cp. Judg. 11:33), and Pannag (some article of merchandise, or name of place, not known now), and honey, and oil, and balm.
18 Damascus was your merchant in the multitude of the wares of your making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon (in the mountains, 13 miles north of Damascus), and white wool.
19 Dan also and Javan going to and fro (from Uzal. Cp. Gen. 10:27) occupied in your fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in your market.
20 Dedan was your merchant in precious clothes for chariots.
21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were merchants of your hand in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they your merchants.
22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were your merchants: they occupied in your fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
23 Haran (between the Euphrates and the Khabour [Gen. 11:35]), and Canneh (now probably Calneh, a Babylonian city [Gen. 10:10), and Eden (in Mesopotamia [2 Kings 19:12. Isa. 37:12. Amos 1:5]. Mentioned in the inscriptions), the merchants of Sheba, Asshur (= Assyria), and Chilmad, were your merchants.
24 These were your merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among your merchandise.
25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of you in your market: and you were replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
26 Your rowers (continuing the symbol of a ship, used of Tyre in this chapter) have brought you into great waters: the east wind has broken you in the midst of the seas.
27 Your riches, and your fairs, your merchandise, your mariners, and your pilots, your breach, and the trades of your merchandise, and all your men of war, that are in you, and in all your gathered host which is in the midst of you, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of your ruin.
28 The driving and casting about by the waves (Cp. Isa. 57:20) shall shake at the sound of the cry of your pilots.
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 against you, 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 utterly bald for you, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you with bitterness of soul and bitter wailing.
32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for you, and lament over you, saying, 'What city is like Tyre, like the destroyed (or, the silent one) in the midst of the sea?'
33 When your wares went forth out of the seas, you filled many people; you did enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise.
34 In the time when you shall be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters your merchandise and all your company in the midst of you shall fall.
35 All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at you, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.
36 The merchants among the people shall hiss at you; you shall become a terror, and never shall be for ever. (Cp. 26:11.)