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Ezekiel 27
Lexham English Bible

A Lament for Doomed Tyre

27 And the word of Yahweh came[a] to me, saying,[b] 2 “And you, son of man,[c] raise a lament against Tyre. 3 And you must say to Tyre, the one who sits at the entrance of the sea as the merchant of the peoples to the many coastlands, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh:

Tyre, you yourself said[d]
    “I am perfect in beauty!”[e]
4 In the heart of the seas are your boundaries;
    your builders perfected your beauty.
5 They built with pine trees from Senir
    all of your boards for you;
they took cedars from Lebanon
    to make a sailing mast for you.[f]
6 They made your oars
    with oaks from Bashan;
your deck they made with inlaid ivory,
    with cypress trees from the coastlands of Cyprus.[g]
7 Your sail was fine linen with colorful weaving from Egypt
    to serve as a banner for you;[h]
blue and purple cloth from the coastlands of Cyprus[i]
    was your awning.
8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvan
    were your rowers;
your skilled men,[j] O Tyre, were from your own people,[k]
    and they were your seamen.
9 The elders of Gebal and its skilled men[l] were among you[m]
    as the repairers of the seam of your boat;
all of the ships of the sea and their mariners were among you[n]
    to barter your wares.
10 Persia and Lud and Put
    were among your soldiers;[o]
small shield and helmet hung among you[p]
    and gave to you your adornment.
11 The people[q] of Arvan and Helech
    were on your walls all around,
and Gammadites
    were in your towers.
They hung their quivers[r] on your walls all around;
    they perfected your beauty.

12 “‘Tarshish was your trader; from the abundance of all of their wealth, with silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your merchandise. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders; in exchange for people[s] and an object of bronze they gave you your wares. 14 From Beth Togarmah they exchanged horses and war horses and mules for your wares. 15 The people[t] of Dedan were trading with you, many coastlands composed the region of your influence;[u] they brought back horns of ivory and ebony as your payment. 16 Edom[v] was trading with you because of the abundance of your products, trading with malachite, purple wool yarn and colorful weaving, and fine white fabric and black corals and rubies; all these they exchange for your merchandise. 17 Judah and the land of Israel were trading with you with wheat from Minnith and millet and honey and olive oil and balm; all these they gave for your wares. 18 Damascus was trading with you because of[w] the abundance of your products, because of the abundance of all of your wealth, trading with the wine of Helbon and white wool. 19 Vedan and Javan from Uzal, they exchanged wrought iron, cinnamon,[x] and reed spice for your merchandise; all this was for your wares. 20 Dedan was trading with you, with garments of woven material for riding. 21 Arabia and all of the leaders of Kedar were your customers;[y] with young rams and adult rams and goats they were trading with them with you. 22 The traders of Sheba and Raamah were trading with you, with the finest of every spice and with every precious stone and gold; they exchanged all these for your merchandise. 23 Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traders of Sheba, Assyria, and Kilmad were trading with you. 24 They were trading with you in finery, in mantles of blue cloth and colorful embroidered work and with rugs of variegated cloth in twisted cords and knotted tightly; these were among your merchandise.[z] 25 The ships of Tarshish were carrying for you your wares, and you were filled, and you became very heavy in the heart of the seas.

26 “‘Into many waters
    the rowers brought you;
but the east wind[aa] wrecked you
    in the heart of the seas.
27 Your wealth and your merchandise, your wares,
    your mariners, and your seamen,
your shipwrights[ab] and the barterers of your wares
    and all of your soldiers[ac] who are in you,
along[ad] with all of your crew who are in the midst of you,
    they will fall in the heart of the seas on the day of your downfall.
28 At the sound of the shout[ae] of your seamen,
    the pasturelands will shake.
29 And they will go down from their ships,
    all of those holding an oar,
mariners, all of the seamen of the sea
    will stand on the land,
30 and they will lament[af] over you with their voice,
    and they will cry out[ag] bitterly,
and they will throw[ah] dust on their heads,
    and they will roll[ai] in the dust.
31 They will shave themselves bald for your sake,[aj]
    and they will dress[ak] themselves in sackcloth,
and they will weep[al] over you with a bitterness of soul[am]
    and with bitter wailing.
32 And they will raise[an] over you with their wailing a lament,
    and they will chant[ao] a lament over you:
‘Who is like Tyre,
    like this destruction in the midst of the sea?’
33 When your merchandise went out from the seas,
    you satisfied many peoples with the abundance of your wealth,
and by your wares
    you made rich the kings of the world.
34 Now you are broken by seas
    in the depths of waters;
your wares and all of your crew
    in the midst of you have sunk.
35 All of the inhabitants of the coastlands
    are appalled over you,
and their kings shudder[ap] in horror;
    they distort their faces![aq]
36 The traders among the peoples hiss over you;
    you have become a horror,
    and you shall be no more forever!’”[ar]

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 27:1 Literally “was”
  2. Ezekiel 27:1 Literally “to say”
  3. Ezekiel 27:2 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  4. Ezekiel 27:3 Literally “you you said”
  5. Ezekiel 27:3 Literally “of beauty”
  6. Ezekiel 27:5 Literally “on you”
  7. Ezekiel 27:6 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  8. Ezekiel 27:7 Literally “to be for you as a banner”
  9. Ezekiel 27:7 Or “Elishah”
  10. Ezekiel 27:8 Literally “wise men”
  11. Ezekiel 27:8 Literally “in you”
  12. Ezekiel 27:9 Literally “wise men”
  13. Ezekiel 27:9 Literally “in you”
  14. Ezekiel 27:9 Literally “in you”
  15. Ezekiel 27:10 Literally “in your army as the men of war your”
  16. Ezekiel 27:10 Literally “in you”
  17. Ezekiel 27:11 Or “children,” or “sons”
  18. Ezekiel 27:11 Or “shields” (cf. NJPS; NIV)
  19. Ezekiel 27:13 Or “for a human person/soul”
  20. Ezekiel 27:15 Or “children”
  21. Ezekiel 27:15 Literally “hand”
  22. Ezekiel 27:16 Reading Edom for Aram
  23. Ezekiel 27:18 Literally “for”
  24. Ezekiel 27:19 Or “cassia”
  25. Ezekiel 27:21 Literally “traders of your hand”
  26. Ezekiel 27:24 Literally “in your trading/marketplace” (cf. NET)
  27. Ezekiel 27:26 Literally “the wind of the east”
  28. Ezekiel 27:27 Literally “the repairers/strengtheners of your seams”
  29. Ezekiel 27:27 Literally “the men of your war”
  30. Ezekiel 27:27 Hebrew “and”
  31. Ezekiel 27:28 Or “cry”
  32. Ezekiel 27:30 Hebrew “lamented”
  33. Ezekiel 27:30 Hebrew “cried out”
  34. Ezekiel 27:30 Hebrew “threw”
  35. Ezekiel 27:30 Hebrew “rolled”
  36. Ezekiel 27:31 Literally “And they made bald for you with baldness”
  37. Ezekiel 27:31 Hebrew “dressed”
  38. Ezekiel 27:31 Hebrew “wept”
  39. Ezekiel 27:31 Or “of their inner self”
  40. Ezekiel 27:32 Hebrew “raised”
  41. Ezekiel 27:32 Hebrew “chanted”
  42. Ezekiel 27:35 Literally “they have bristling hair”
  43. Ezekiel 27:35 Literally “they are distorted as to faces”
  44. Ezekiel 27:36 Literally “there is not you until eternity/endless ages” (cf. NRSV)
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Ezekiel 27
New English Translation

A Lament for Tyre

27 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “You, son of man, sing a lament for Tyre.[a] 3 Say to Tyre, who sits at the entrance[b] of the sea,[c] merchant to the peoples on many coasts, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“‘O Tyre, you have said, “I am perfectly beautiful.”
4 [d] Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
your builders have perfected your beauty.
5 They crafted[e] all your planks out of fir trees from Senir;[f]
they took a cedar from Lebanon to make your mast.
6 They made your oars from oaks of Bashan;
they made your deck[g] with cypress wood[h] from the coasts of Cyprus.[i]
7 Fine linen from Egypt, woven with patterns, was used for your sail
to serve as your banner;
blue and purple from the coastlands of Elishah[j] were used for your deck’s awning.
8 The leaders[k] of Sidon and Arvad[l] were your rowers;
your skilled men,[m] O Tyre, were your captains.
9 The elders of Gebal[n] and her skilled men were within you, mending cracks;[o]
all the ships of the sea and their mariners were within you to trade for your merchandise.[p]
10 Men of Persia, Lud,[q] and Put were in your army, men of war.
They hung shield and helmet on you; they gave you your splendor.
11 The Arvadites[r] joined your army on your walls all around,
and the Gammadites[s] were in your towers.
They hung their quivers[t] on your walls all around;
they perfected your beauty.

12 “‘Tarshish[u] was your trade partner because of your abundant wealth; they exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for your products. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your clients; they exchanged slaves and bronze items for your merchandise. 14 Beth Togarmah exchanged horses, chargers,[v] and mules for your products. 15 The Dedanites[w] were your clients. Many coastlands were your customers; they paid[x] you with ivory tusks and ebony. 16 Edom[y] was your trade partner because of the abundance of your goods; they exchanged turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies for your products. 17 Judah and the land of Israel were your clients; they traded wheat from Minnith,[z] millet, honey, olive oil, and balm for your merchandise. 18 Damascus was your trade partner because of the abundance of your goods and of all your wealth: wine from Helbon, white wool from Zahar, 19 and casks of wine[aa] from Izal[ab] they exchanged for your products. Wrought iron, cassia, and sweet cane were among your merchandise. 20 Dedan was your client in saddlecloths for riding. 21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your trade partners; for lambs, rams, and goats they traded with you. 22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah engaged in trade with you; they traded the best kinds of spices along with precious stones and gold for your products. 23 Haran, Kanneh, Eden, merchants from Sheba, Asshur, and Kilmad were your clients. 24 They traded with you choice garments, purple clothes and embroidered work, and multicolored carpets bound and reinforced with cords; these were among your merchandise. 25 The ships of Tarshish[ac] were the transports for your merchandise.

“‘So you were filled and weighed down in the heart of the seas.
26 Your rowers have brought you into surging waters.
The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.
27 Your wealth, products, and merchandise, your sailors and captains,
your ship’s carpenters,[ad] your merchants,
and all your fighting men within you,
along with all your crew who are in you,
will fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your downfall.
28 At the sound of your captains’ cries the waves will surge;[ae]
29 They will descend from their ships—all who handle the oar,
the sailors and all the sea captains—they will stand on the land.
30 They will lament loudly[af] over you and cry bitterly.
They will throw dust on their heads and roll in the ashes;[ag]
31 they will tear out their hair because of you and put on sackcloth,
and they will weep bitterly over you with intense mourning.[ah]
32 As they wail they will lament over you, chanting:
“Who was like Tyre, like a tower[ai] in the midst of the sea?”
33 When your products went out from the seas,
you satisfied many peoples;
with the abundance of your wealth and merchandise
you enriched the kings of the earth.
34 Now you are wrecked by the seas, in the depths of the waters;
your merchandise and all your company have sunk[aj] along with you.[ak]
35 All the inhabitants of the coastlands are shocked at you,
and their kings are horribly afraid—their faces are troubled.
36 The traders among the peoples hiss at you;
you have become a horror, and will be no more.’”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 27:2 tn Heb “lift up over Tyre a lament.”
  2. Ezekiel 27:3 tn Heb “entrances.” The plural noun may reflect the fact that Tyre had two main harbors.
  3. Ezekiel 27:3 sn Rome, another economic power, is described in a similar way in Rev 17:1.
  4. Ezekiel 27:4 tn The city of Tyre is described in the following account as a merchant ship.
  5. Ezekiel 27:5 tn Heb “built.”
  6. Ezekiel 27:5 tn Perhaps the hull or deck. The term is dual, so perhaps it refers to a double-decked ship.
  7. Ezekiel 27:6 tn Or “hull.”
  8. Ezekiel 27:6 tc The Hebrew reads, “Your deck they made ivory, daughter of Assyria.” The syntactically difficult “ivory” is understood here as dittography and omitted, though some construe this to refer to ivory inlays. “Daughter of Assyria” is understood here as improper word division, and the vowels are repointed as “cypresses” and translated as “cypress wood.”
  9. Ezekiel 27:6 tn Heb “from the coastlands (or islands) of Kittim,” generally understood to be a reference to the island of Cyprus, where the Phoenicians had a trading colony on the southeast coast.
  10. Ezekiel 27:7 sn This is probably a reference to Cyprus.
  11. Ezekiel 27:8 tc The MT reads, “the residents of”; the LXX reads, “your rulers who dwell in.” With no apparent reason for the LXX to add “the rulers,” many suppose something has dropped out of the Hebrew text. While more than one may be possible, Allen’s proposal, positing a word meaning “elders,” is the most likely to explain the omission in the MT from a graphic standpoint and also provides a parallel to the beginning of v. 9. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:81.
  12. Ezekiel 27:8 sn Sidon and Arvad, like Tyre, were Phoenician coastal cities.
  13. Ezekiel 27:8 tn Or “wise.”
  14. Ezekiel 27:9 sn Another Phoenician coastal city located between Sidon and Arvad.
  15. Ezekiel 27:9 tn Heb “strengthening damages.” Here “to strengthen” means to repair. The word for “damages” occurs several times in 1 Kgs 12 about some type of damage to the temple, which may have referred to or included cracks. Since the context describes Tyre in its glory, we do not expect this reference to damages to be of significant scale, even if there are repairmen. This may refer to using pitch to seal the seams of the ship, which had to be done periodically and could be considered routine maintenance rather than repair of damage.
  16. Ezekiel 27:9 sn The reference to “all the ships of the sea…within you” suggests that the metaphor is changing; previously Tyre had been described as a magnificent ship, but now the description shifts back to an actual city. The “ships of the sea” were within Tyre’s harbor. Verse 11 refers to “walls” and “towers” of the city.
  17. Ezekiel 27:10 sn See Gen 10:22.
  18. Ezekiel 27:11 tn Heb “sons of Arvad.”
  19. Ezekiel 27:11 sn The identity of the Gammadites is uncertain.
  20. Ezekiel 27:11 tn See note on “quivers” in Jer 51:11 on the meaning of Hebrew שֶׁלֶט (shelet) and also M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:553.
  21. Ezekiel 27:12 sn Tarshish refers to a distant seaport sometimes believed to be located in southern Spain (others identified it as Carthage in North Africa). In any event it represents here a distant, rich, and exotic port that was a trading partner of Tyre.
  22. Ezekiel 27:14 tn The way in which these horses may have been distinguished from other horses is unknown. Cf. ASV “war-horses” (NASB, NIV, NRSV, CEV are all similar); NLT “chariot horses.”
  23. Ezekiel 27:15 tn Heb “sons of Dedan.”
  24. Ezekiel 27:15 tn Heb “they returned as your gift.”
  25. Ezekiel 27:16 tc Many Hebrew mss, Aquila’s Greek translation, and the Syriac version read “Edom.” The LXX reads “man,” a translation that assumes the same consonants as Edom. This reading is supported from the context as the text deals with Damascus, the capital of Syria (Aram), later (in v. 18).
  26. Ezekiel 27:17 sn The location is mentioned in Judg 11:33.
  27. Ezekiel 27:19 tc The MT leaves v. 18 as an incomplete sentence and begins v. 19 with “and Dan and Javan [Ionia] from Uzal.” The LXX mentions “wine.” The translation follows an emendation assuming some confusions of vav and yod. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:82.
  28. Ezekiel 27:19 sn According to L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 2:82), Izal was located between Haran and the Tigris and was famous for its wine.
  29. Ezekiel 27:25 tn Or perhaps “Large merchant ships.” The expression “ships of Tarshish” may describe a class of vessel, that is, large oceangoing merchant ships.
  30. Ezekiel 27:27 tn Heb “your repairers of damage.” See v. 9.
  31. Ezekiel 27:28 tn Compare this phrase to Isa 57:20 and Amos 8:8. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:561.
  32. Ezekiel 27:30 tn Heb “make heard over you with their voice.”
  33. Ezekiel 27:30 tn Note a similar expression to “roll in the ashes” in Mic 1:10.
  34. Ezekiel 27:31 tn Heb “and they will weep concerning you with bitterness of soul, (with) bitter mourning.”
  35. Ezekiel 27:32 tn As it stands, the meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear. The translation follows the suggestion of M. Dahood, “Accadian-Ugaritic dmt in Ezekiel 27:32, ” Bib 45 (1964): 83-84. Several other explanations and emendations have been offered. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:83, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:85-86, for a list of options.
  36. Ezekiel 27:34 tn Heb “fallen.”
  37. Ezekiel 27:34 tn Heb “in the midst of you.”
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