Yehezkiel 27:8-12

27:8 The leaders ¹  of Sidon ²  and Arvad ³  were your rowers;

your skilled ⁴  men, O Tyre, were your captains.

27:9 The elders of Gebal ⁵  and her skilled men were within you, mending cracks; ⁶ 

all the ships of the sea and their mariners were within you to trade for your merchandise. ⁷ 

27:10 Men of Persia, Lud, ⁸  and Put were in your army, men of war.

They hung shield and helmet on you; they gave you your splendor.

27:11 The Arvadites ⁹  joined your army on your walls all around,

and the Gammadites ¹⁰  were in your towers.

They hung their quivers ¹¹  on your walls all around;

they perfected your beauty.

27:12 “‘Tarshish ¹²  was your trade partner because of your abundant wealth; they exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for your products.

Yehezkiel 27:25-28

27:25 The ships of Tarshish ¹³  were the transports for your merchandise.

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

27:26 Your rowers have brought you into surging waters.

The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.

27:27 Your wealth, products, and merchandise, your sailors and captains,

your ship’s carpenters, ¹⁴  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.

27:28 At the sound of your captains’ cry the waves will surge; ¹⁵ 

[27:8]  ¹ 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.a parallel to v. 9.

[27:8]  ² map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[27:8]  ³ sn Sidon and Arvad, like Tyre, were Phoenician coastal cities.

[27:8]  ⁴ tn Or “wise.”

[27:9]  ⁵ sn Another Phoenician coastal city located between Sidon and Arvad.

[27:9]  ⁶ 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.

[27:9]  ⁷ 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.

[27:10]  ⁸ sn See Gen 10:22.

[27:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “sons of Arvad.”

[27:11]  ¹⁰ sn The identity of the Gammadites is uncertain.

[27:11]  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.

[27:12]  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 which was a trading partner of Tyre.

[27:25]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps “Large merchant ships.” The expression “ships of Tarshish” may describe a class of vessel, that is, large oceangoing merchant ships.

[27:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your repairers of damage.” See v. 9.

[27:28]  ¹⁵ tn Compare this phrase to Isa 57:20 and Amos 8:8. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:561.