Ezekiel 27

Chapter context

What is happening in Ezekiel 27?

glory of Godjudgmentexilenew heart

Ezekiel 27 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as oracles against the nations. Ezekiel is a priestly-prophetic book of visions, enacted signs, judgment against Judah and the nations, and a vast closing vision of restored life and worship. Read this chapter with the wider themes of glory of God, judgment, and exile in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, ² Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; ³ And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. ⁴ Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. ⁵ They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. ⁶ Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. ⁷ Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. ⁸ The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. ⁹ The ancients 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 occupy thy merchandise. ¹⁰ They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut 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 the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. ¹² Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. ¹³ Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. ¹⁴ They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. ¹⁵ The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. ¹⁶ Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. ¹⁷ Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. ¹⁸ Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. ¹⁹ Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. ²⁰ Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. ²¹ Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. ²² The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. ²³ Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. ²⁴ These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. ²⁵ The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. ²⁶ Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. ²⁷ Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. ²⁸ The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy 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 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 utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. ³² And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? ³³ When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. ³⁴ In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall. ³⁵ All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance. ³⁶ The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.

Study helps

Glossary

Tyre Place v. 2-3, 8, 32: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tyre.
Lebanon Place v. 5: Biblical region. Modern identification: Jezzine.
Senir Place v. 5: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Mount Hermon.
Bashan Place v. 6: Biblical region. Modern identification: Saham al Jawlan.
Cyprus Place v. 6: Biblical island. Modern identification: Cyprus.
Egypt Place v. 7: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Elishah Place v. 7: Biblical island. Modern identification: Cyprus.
Arvad Place v. 8, 11: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Arwad.
Sidon Place v. 8: A fishery, a town on the Mediterranean coast, about 25 miles north of Tyre. It received its name from the “first-born” of Canaan, the grandson of Noah ( Gen. 10:15 , 19). Modern identification: Sandikli archaeological site in Sidon.
Calkers People v. 9, 27: Workmen skilled in stopping the seams of the deck or sides of vessels. The inhabitants of Gebel were employed in such work on Tyrian vessels ( Ezek. 27:9 , 27; marg., “strengtheners” or “stoppers of chinks”).
Gebal Place v. 9: A line (or natural boundary, as a mountain range). (1. ) A tract in the land of Edom south of the Dead Sea ( Ps. 83:7 ); now called Djebal. Modern identification: Byblos.
Lud Place v. 10: Biblical region. Modern identification: Sardis.
Persia Place v. 10: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tell Hagmatana.
Put Place v. 10: Biblical region. Modern identification: Cyrene.
Gamad Place v. 11: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Kamid el Loz.
Helech Place v. 11: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tarsus.
Tarshish Place v. 12, 25: A Sanscrit or Aryan word, meaning “the sea coast. ” (1. ) One of the “sons” of Javan ( Gen. 10:4 ; 1 Chr. 1:7 ). (2. ) The name of a place which first comes into notice in the days of Solomon. Modern identification: Huelva.
Javan Place v. 13: Biblical region. Modern identification: Ionia.
Meshech Place v. 13: Biblical region. Modern identification: Gordion.
Tubal Place v. 13: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tabal.
Beth-togarmah Place v. 14: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Armenia.
Dedan Place v. 15, 20: A rose, an island to the south of the western extremity of Asia Minor, between Coos and Patara, about 46 miles long and 18 miles broad. Modern identification: Al Khuraybah.
Rhodes Place v. 15: A rose, an island to the south of the western extremity of Asia Minor, between Coos and Patara, about 46 miles long and 18 miles broad. Modern identification: Rhodes.
Syria Place v. 16: Biblical region. Modern identification: Damascus.
Minnith Place v. 17: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Umm el Hanafish.
Damascus Place v. 18: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Damascus.
Helbon Place v. 18: Fat; i. e., “fertile”, (Ezek. 27: 18 only), a place whence wine was brought to the great market of Tyre. Modern identification: Halbun.
Sahar Place v. 18: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Sahl as Sahra.
Dan Place v. 19: Woodland Dan, a place probably somewhere in the direction of Dan, near the sources of the Jordan ( 2 Sam. 24:6 ). The LXX. and the Vulgate read “Dan-ja’ar”, i. e., “Dan in the forest. ”. Modern identification: Tel Dan.
Uzal Place v. 19: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Sanaa.
Arabia Place v. 21: Biblical region. Modern identification: Arabian Peninsula.
Kedar Place v. 21: Biblical people group. Modern identification: Dumat al Jandal.
Raamah Place v. 22: Thunder. (1. ) One of the sons of Cush ( Gen. 10:7 ). (2. ) A country which traded with Tyre ( Ezek. 27:22 ). Modern identification: Najran.
Sheba Place v. 22-23: (1. ) One of the sons of Cush ( Gen. 10:7 ). (2. ) The name of a country and nation ( Isa. 43:3 ; 45:14 ) mentioned along with Egypt and Ethiopia, and therefore probably in north-eastern Africa. The ancient name of Meroe. Modern identification: Sheba.
Asshur Place v. 23: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Assur.
Canneh Place v. 23: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Kullan Köy.
Chilmad Place v. 23: A place or country unknown which, along with Sheba and Asshur, traded with Tyre ( Ezek. 27:23 ). Modern identification: Tell Jindaris.
Eden Place v. 23: Biblical region. Modern identification: Til Barsip.
Haran Place v. 23: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Harran.
Sackcloth People v. 31: Cloth made of black goats’ hair, coarse, rough, and thick, used for sacks, and also worn by mourners ( Gen. 37:34 ; 42:25 ; 2 Sam. 3:31 ; Esther 4:1 , 2; Ps. 30:11 , etc. ), and as a sign of repentance ( Matt. 11:21 ).
City People v. 32: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).