Yehezkiel 27:4

27:4 ¹ Your borders are in the heart of the seas;

your builders have perfected your beauty.

Yehezkiel 27:25

27:25 The ships of Tarshish ²  were the transports for your merchandise.

“‘So you were filled and weighed down in the heart of the seas.

Yehezkiel 26:17

26:17 They will sing this lament over you: ³ 

“‘How you have perished – you have vanished ⁴  from the seas,

O renowned city, once mighty in the sea,

she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror! ⁵ 

Yehezkiel 28:2-3

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ⁶  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ⁷  and you said, “I am a god; ⁸ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ⁹ 

28:3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel; ¹⁰ 

no secret is hidden from you. ¹¹ 

[27:4]  ¹ tn The city of Tyre is described in the following account as a merchant ship.

[27:25]  ² tn Or perhaps “Large merchant ships.” The expression “ships of Tarshish” may describe a class of vessel, that is, large oceangoing merchant ships.

[26:17]  ³ tn Heb “and they will lift up over you a lament and they will say to you.”

[26:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “O inhabitant.” The translation follows the LXX and understands a different Hebrew verb, meaning “cease,” behind the consonantal text. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:72, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:43.

[26:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “she and her inhabitants who placed their terror to all her inhabitants.” The relationship of the final prepositional phrase to what precedes is unclear. The preposition probably has a specifying function here, drawing attention to Tyre’s inhabitants as the source of the terror mentioned prior to this. In this case, one might paraphrase verse 17b: “she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror; yes, her inhabitants (were the source of this terror).”

[28:2]  ⁶ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  sn See Prov 16:5.

[28:2]  ⁸ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”

[28:3]  ¹⁰ sn Or perhaps “Danel” (so TEV), referring to a ruler known from Canaanite legend. See the note on “Daniel” in 14:14. A reference to Danel (preserved in legend at Ugarit, near the northern end of the Phoenician coast) makes more sense here when addressing Tyre than in 14:14.

[28:3]  ¹¹ sn The tone here is sarcastic, reflecting the ruler’s view of himself.