Ezekiel 27

Ezekiel sings a funeral song over Tyre before the city has fallen. He pictures Tyre as a magnificent merchant ship, built from the best materials, crewed by many nations and loaded with the world’s goods. Then a storm wrecks the ship, and the whole world mourns its loss.

Ezekiel 27:1-2

God gives Ezekiel a task: sing a funeral song for Tyre while the city is still standing. A lament is a song for the dead. By singing it early, the prophet declares that God has already decided Tyre’s end.

BSA: lament (“dirge, a song of grief”): It is a formal song of mourning, sung as though the city were already dead.

Hebrew: קִינָה (qînāh, H7015) — “funeral song, dirge.” The Hebrew word names a mourning song with a slow, sad rhythm. Ezekiel uses it as a sharp irony, since proud Tyre is mourned before it falls.

See also: Ezekiel 19:1.

Ezekiel 27:3

Tyre sat on the coast, and its island stronghold stood as a gateway to the sea. It traded with peoples everywhere. Its proud boast was ‘I am perfect in beauty.’ God quotes that boast in order to confront it.

BSA: gateway (“entrance, entry point”): Tyre controlled the doorway to Mediterranean trade, which fed its pride. perfect (“complete, entire”): Tyre claimed to lack nothing, which is a claim that belongs to God alone.

Ezekiel 27:4

Tyre’s borders lay out in the heart of the seas, as if the city itself were a ship. Its builders took pride in making it flawless. Human skill can make something very beautiful, yet beauty cannot protect it from God’s judgment.

BSA: heart (“center, deepest part”): Tyre sat in the middle of the sea, which looked secure but proves to be the place of its death.

Ezekiel 27:5-6

The ship’s timber is gathered from the finest sources. Cypress comes from Senir, which is Mount Hermon, and cedar from Lebanon. Oak for the oars comes from Bashan, and the deck is inlaid with ivory. Tyre’s glory is borrowed from many lands.

BSA: Senir (“Mount Hermon, a snow-capped mountain”): The timber came from high mountains far north of the city.

See also: 1 Kings 5:6.

Ezekiel 27:7

The sail is costly Egyptian linen, embroidered, and it also served as the ship’s banner. The awning is dyed blue and purple, colors linked with wealth and royalty. Everything about the ship announces luxury and status.

BSA: purple (“royal fabric”): Tyre was famous for its purple dye, so this color marked its fame and its riches.

Ezekiel 27:8-9

Tyre’s crew came from neighboring cities: Sidon, Arvad and Gebal. Its own wise men served as captains. Older craftsmen from Gebal kept the hull sound by repairing its leaks. Ships from every port came to trade. The city’s strength rested on other people’s skill.

BSA: shipwrights (“skilled craftsmen, wise men”): The word means skilled men, so Tyre’s strength is shown to depend on human wisdom.

Ezekiel 27:10-11

Tyre also hired foreign soldiers from Persia, Lydia, Put, Arvad, Helech and Gammad. They hung their shields and helmets on its walls. Their weapons made the city look strong and splendid. Yet hired defenders cannot stop what God has decreed.

BSA: splendor (“glory, beauty, or majesty, your excellence”): The soldiers’ hanging shields added to Tyre’s glory in the eyes of the world.

Ezekiel 27:12-14

Now the list of customers begins. Tarshish, probably in the far west, paid in metals: silver, iron, tin and lead. Javan, Tubal and Meshech supplied slaves and bronze. Beth-togarmah brought horses and mules. Trade flowed in from every direction.

BSA: slaves (“living men, persons of men”): The Hebrew phrase is literally ‘persons of men,’ a plain reminder that human lives were sold as goods.

Ezekiel 27:15-17

Dedan and many coastlands sent ivory and ebony. Aram sent gems and fine cloth. Even Judah and Israel sold wheat, honey, oil and balm. God’s own people were caught up in Tyre’s commerce too.

BSA: balm (“a fragrant resin, used for medicine and trade”): This was a prized product of the land of Israel, sold abroad for profit.

See also: Genesis 37:25.

Ezekiel 27:18-21

Damascus provided wine and wool. Other regions sent wrought iron, cassia and sweet cane. Dedan sold saddlecloths, and Arabia and the princes of Kedar sold lambs, rams and goats. Shepherd peoples and desert tribes took part in the same web of trade.

BSA: Kedar (“descendants of Ishmael, a nomadic people”): These desert herdsmen came from Ishmael’s line and sold their flocks to Tyre.

See also: Genesis 25:13.

Ezekiel 27:22-24

Sheba and Raamah brought gold, spices and precious stones. Traders from Haran, Canneh, Eden, Asshur and Chilmad filled the marketplace with fine garments, embroidered work and woven rugs. Tyre’s wealth reached across the whole known world.

BSA: spices (“pleasant smells, sweet perfumes”): Sheba’s best spices were among the costliest goods in the ancient world.

Ezekiel 27:25

The great ships of Tarshish carried Tyre’s merchandise. Tyre sits low in the water, heavily loaded in the heart of the sea. The picture is of a ship laden so full that it is in danger, and the chapter now turns to that danger.

BSA: heavy cargo (“exceedingly glorious, very glorious”): The Hebrew carries the sense of ‘glory’ and ‘weight’ together, so Tyre’s glory is also its load.

Hebrew: כָּבֵד (kābēd, H3513) — “heavy, weighty, glorious.” The same root means both ‘heavy’ and ‘glorious.’ Tyre’s glory is also a weight that helps drag it down.

Ezekiel 27:26

The oarsmen row the overloaded ship out onto the high seas, far from safety. Then the east wind strikes. In the Bible the east wind often brings destruction, and here it stands for the power God uses against Tyre, which in history came as Babylon’s armies.

BSA: east wind (“eastern”): This is a violent wind from the desert that could break a ship, and it pictures the judgment coming from Babylon.

See also: Psalm 48:7.

Ezekiel 27:27

Everything sinks together on the day of downfall: wealth, goods, crew, merchants, soldiers and passengers. Nothing Tyre trusted can save it. All its riches and all its skilled people go down in one moment.

BSA: downfall (“ruin or carcass”): The word suggests a collapse that leaves only a wreck.

See also: Proverbs 11:4.

Ezekiel 27:28-29

The shock is so great that the very countryside shakes at the sailors’ cries. The oarsmen leave their ships and stand on the shore. They can do nothing now but watch their great city sink.

BSA: countryside (“pasture lands, open land, suburbs”): The open lands around the city tremble at the sound of the disaster.

Ezekiel 27:30-31

Mourners show their grief in ways common in the ancient world: dust on the head, ashes, shaved heads and sackcloth. Their weeping is deep and bitter. They are mourning the loss of Tyre’s trade and the world they shared with it.

BSA: sackcloth (“coarse cloth, a sign of humility”): Rough cloth worn on the body showed grief openly.

See also: Jonah 3:6; Job 2:12.

Ezekiel 27:32-33

The mourners begin their own lament. Tyre was unmatched, and it was silenced in the sea. Its goods once satisfied many nations and enriched kings. Its fall is a loss for everyone who lived off its trade.

BSA: silenced (“destroyed, brought to an end”): The noisy, busy city goes quiet.

Ezekiel 27:34-36

Tyre is wrecked in the depths and everything goes down with it. Coastlands and kings are horrified, and fellow traders hiss in scorn. Tyre has come to a dreadful end. The lament teaches that no wealth or beauty lasts apart from God.

BSA: hiss (“whistle, expressing scorn”): The hiss shows both shock and contempt at a once-great city’s ruin.

See also: Revelation 18:11-19; Matthew 16:26.