Ezekiel 27

The word of the LORD came to me again. He said:

1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2"Now you, son of man, sing a funeral song for Tyre.

2Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;

NoteTyre was a Phoenician port city on the coast of what is now Lebanon, built largely on a rocky island just offshore. In Ezekiel's day it was the richest trading power in the region, running sea routes across the whole Mediterranean. "Son of man" is simply how God addresses Ezekiel throughout this book; in Hebrew it means "human being," marking him as mortal over against the God who speaks to him. A "funeral song" (a lament, Hebrew qinah) was a formal poem chanted over a corpse, with its own limping rhythm. Singing one over a city still standing was a way of announcing it as good as dead.

3Say to Tyre, the city that sits at the gateway to the sea and trades with peoples on many coastlands: This is what the Lord GOD says. Tyre, you have said, 'I am perfect in beauty.'

3And 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.

NoteThe King James prints two different words here: "LORD" in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud; "Lord GOD" renders a pairing of the word for "master" with that same name. The distinction is a printing convention, not a difference in who is speaking.

4Your borders are out in the heart of the seas. Your builders made your beauty complete.

4Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.

NoteFrom here to verse 9 the poem stops describing Tyre as a city and describes it as a ship, a luxury vessel assembled from the finest materials of every neighboring land. The city's walls become planking, its rulers become the crew. The metaphor is dropped and resumed several times through the chapter, which is why Tyre can sink at sea in verse 26 and still be a city with suburbs in verse 28.

5They built all your planking from cypress wood from Senir. They took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.

5They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.

NoteSenir was another name for Mount Hermon, the high range on the northern border of Israel, known for its conifer forests. The cedars of Lebanon were the most prized building timber in the ancient Near East, tall and straight enough for masts and temple beams, and exported all over the region.

6They made your oars from the oaks of Bashan. They made your deck from wood brought from the coasts of Cyprus, and set ivory into it.

6Of 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.

NoteBashan was the fertile upland east of the Sea of Galilee, proverbial for its oak forests and its cattle. The King James "isles of Chittim" refers to Cyprus and, more loosely, the coasts and islands further west; the Hebrew word translated "isles" covers any land reached by sea, including coastlines.

7Your sail was fine linen from Egypt with embroidery on it, and it also served as your flag. Your awning was blue and purple cloth from the coasts of Elishah.

7Fine 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.

NoteElishah is usually taken to be Cyprus or part of it. Blue and purple dyed cloth was the most expensive fabric in the ancient world: the dye was extracted drop by drop from murex sea snails, and Tyre's own dyeworks were the most famous source of it. Cloth of that color signaled royalty and enormous wealth.

8Men from Sidon and Arvad were your rowers. Your own skilled men, Tyre, served as your ship captains.

8The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.

NoteSidon and Arvad were the other major Phoenician port cities on the same coast, Tyre's neighbors, sometimes rivals, here supplying its manpower.

9The elders of Gebal and their skilled workers were on board to seal the seams of your ships and repair leaks. Every ship at sea and its sailors came alongside you to trade for your goods.

9The 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.

NoteGebal is the city the Greeks called Byblos, north of Sidon, whose craftsmen had a long reputation as shipwrights and builders. "Elders" means its senior men, the experienced heads of the trade.

10Men from Persia, Lud, and Phut served in your army as your soldiers. They hung their shields and helmets in you, and they gave you a proud look.

10They 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.

NoteLud is generally identified with Lydia in western Asia Minor, Phut (or Put) with a region of North Africa, probably Libya. All three were sources of hired foreign soldiers; a wealthy city like Tyre bought its army rather than conscripting one. Hanging shields and helmets on the walls was both storage and display, a standing advertisement of a city's military strength.

11Men from Arvad and your own army stood on your walls all around, and men from Gammad were in your towers. They hung their shields all around your walls. They made your beauty complete.

11The 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.

NoteThe Hebrew here is uncertain. The King James "thine army" renders a word many scholars read instead as a place name, Helech, possibly Cilicia in southern Asia Minor. "Gammadims" is likewise obscure, probably men from a place called Gammad, though the word has also been read as a term for a kind of soldier. No one now knows for certain.

12Tarshish traded with you because you had such a large supply of every kind of goods. They paid for your wares with silver, iron, tin, and lead.

12Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.

NoteTarshish was a far-off western port reached by long sea voyage, most often identified with Tartessus in southern Spain, a source of silver and other metals; some place it in Sardinia. To an Israelite the name carried the sense of "the far end of the sea."

13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you. They gave you human beings and bronze objects in exchange for your goods.

13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.

NoteJavan is the Hebrew name for the Ionian Greeks, and by extension the Greek world. Tubal and Meshech were peoples of eastern Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey, known as metalworkers. The King James "persons of men" is literal: the goods traded here were enslaved people, bought and sold alongside the bronzeware.

14The people of the house of Togarmah paid for your wares with work horses, war horses, and mules.

14They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.

NoteTogarmah lay in eastern Asia Minor or Armenia, a region famous for horse breeding. "House of" before a name means the people descended from that ancestor, much as "house of Israel" means the Israelites.

15The men of Dedan traded with you, and many coastlands were your customers. They paid you with tusks of ivory and with ebony wood.

15The 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.

NoteDedan was an oasis trading center in northwest Arabia, a stop on the caravan routes carrying goods up from southern Arabia and Africa. Ebony is a dense black tropical hardwood; along with elephant tusks it came from far to the south, which is why Dedan appears as the middleman.

16Syria traded with you because you made so many products. They paid for your wares with turquoise, purple cloth, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies.

16Syria 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.

Note"Syria" here renders Aram, the inland kingdom north and east of Israel centered on Damascus. Some Hebrew manuscripts read Edom instead, the kingdom southeast of Israel; the two words differ by one easily confused letter, and which was original is disputed. The precise stones meant by the words translated "turquoise" and "rubies" are also uncertain, ancient gem names were grouped by color rather than by mineral.

17Judah and the land of Israel traded with you. They gave you wheat from Minnith, a food called pannag, honey, olive oil, and balm in exchange for your goods.

17Judah, 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.

NoteMinnith was a town in Ammon, east of the Jordan, in good grain country. "Pannag" is a Hebrew word that appears nowhere else and whose meaning is lost; guesses include a kind of cake, a confection, or a spice, and the rendering simply leaves it untranslated. Balm was an aromatic resin tapped from trees in Gilead, used as medicine and perfume and worth far more than its bulk.

18Because you made so many products and had such great wealth, Damascus traded with you, bringing wine from Helbon and white wool.

18Damascus 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.

NoteHelbon was a village north of Damascus whose wine was prized as far away as the Persian court. The Hebrew behind "white wool" may instead be a place name, Zahar, in which case the line reads "wool from Zahar."

19Dan and Javan also did business at your markets as they went back and forth. Worked iron, cassia, and sweet cane were among the goods traded to you.

19Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.

NoteThis verse is the most damaged in the chapter. The King James takes the opening words as the tribe of Dan and the Greeks (Javan); many now read them as casks of wine from Uzal, a place in Arabia. Cassia is the bark of a tree related to cinnamon; "sweet cane" (the King James "calamus") is an aromatic reed. Both were imported spices used in perfume and incense.

20Dedan traded with you in fine cloths used as saddle blankets for riding.

20Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.

21Arabia and all the princes of Kedar did business with you. They traded lambs, rams, and goats with you.

21Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.

NoteKedar was a confederation of nomadic Arab tribes in the northern desert, herders whose wealth was in flocks. "Princes" here means tribal chiefs, not royalty in the European sense.

22The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you. They paid for your wares with the finest of all spices, with every kind of precious stone, and with gold.

22The 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.

NoteSheba and Raamah lay in southwest Arabia, in the region of modern Yemen. They controlled the incense trade, frankincense and myrrh grew there and almost nowhere else, and grew rich shipping it north by camel caravan.

23Haran, Canneh, and Eden traded with you, and so did the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad.

23Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.

NoteThese are inland cities of Mesopotamia and northern Syria, the other end of the trade network from Tarshish: Haran on the upper Euphrates route, Asshur the old capital of Assyria, and Canneh, Eden and Chilmad smaller trading centers whose exact sites are unknown. Naming them alongside the sea powers makes the point that Tyre's reach ran overland as well as by water.

24These traded with you in all kinds of things: blue cloth, embroidered work, and rich clothing packed in cedar chests and tied shut with cords. All this was part of your trade.

24These 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.

25The ships of Tarshish carried your goods to market. You were loaded with heavy cargo and looked magnificent out in the heart of the seas.

25The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.

Note"Ships of Tarshish" was a class of vessel rather than a fleet from one place, the large, deep-hulled cargo ships built to make the long open-sea runs. English once used "Indiaman" the same way.

26Your rowers have taken you out into deep water. The east wind has broken you apart in the heart of the seas.

26Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.

NoteThe east wind blows off the desert: hot, dry and violent, the storm wind most feared by sailors on that coast. Notice the tense shift here, after twenty-five verses cataloguing Tyre's wealth in the past, the poem turns to the wreck.

27Your wealth, your wares, and your goods, your sailors and your captains, the men who sealed your seams, the traders who handled your goods, all your soldiers on board, and everyone else with you will sink into the heart of the sea on the day you go down.

27Thy 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.

28The land around will shake at the sound of your captains crying out.

28The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.

29Everyone who handles an oar will leave his ship. The sailors and all the sea captains will stand on the shore.

29And 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;

30They will raise their voices over you and cry bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes.

30And 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:

NoteThrowing dust or dirt on the head and sitting or rolling in ashes were the standard public gestures of grief and shock in the ancient Near East, as recognisable then as wearing black at a funeral is now.

31They will shave their heads bald for you and put on rough cloth worn by mourners. They will weep for you with pain in their hearts and bitter wailing.

31And 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.

NoteShaving the head bald was another formal mourning rite, a visible and lasting mark of loss. Sackcloth was coarse dark cloth of goat hair, worn next to the skin, uncomfortable by design; putting it on announced mourning or distress to anyone who saw you.

32As they wail, they will sing a funeral song for you and mourn over you. They will say, 'Who was ever like Tyre, now silenced out in the middle of the sea?'

32And 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 your goods went out across the seas, you satisfied many peoples. You made the kings of the earth rich with your great wealth and your trade.'

33When 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'Now the seas have broken you apart in the deep water. Your goods and all the people on board have gone down with you.'

34In 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'Everyone who lives on the coastlands is stunned at what happened to you. Their kings shudder with fear, and their faces are twisted.'

35All 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 nations hiss at you. You have come to a horrible end, and you will never exist again.'"

36The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.

NoteHissing was not booing an act; it was the involuntary sharp intake or expulsion of breath at something appalling. Ancient writers use it for the sound people make passing the ruins of a place that was once great.