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The Prophets · Old Testament

Ezekiel 27

Ezekiel 27: the lament for Tyrus, a ship of perfect beauty

General context

The Lord tells the prophet to take up a lamentation for Tyrus, the merchant of many isles at the entry of the sea, who has said "I am of perfect beauty". The city is described as a ship. Her boards are fir from Senir, her masts cedars of Lebanon, her oars oaks of Bashan, her benches ivory from Chittim, her sail fine linen from Egypt and her covering blue and purple from Elishah. Men of Zidon and Arvad are her mariners, her own wise men pilot, the ancients of Gebal calk, and men of Persia, Lud and Phut serve in her army. A long catalogue follows of her trading partners and their wares: Tarshish with silver, iron, tin and lead; Javan, Tubal and Meshech with persons of men and vessels of brass; Togarmah with horses and mules; Dedan with ivory and ebony; Syria with emeralds, purple and coral; Judah and the land of Israel with wheat of Minnith, honey, oil and balm; Damascus with wine of Helbon; Arabia and Kedar with lambs, rams and goats; Sheba and Raamah with spices, precious stones and gold; and others. Then the east wind breaks the ship in the midst of the seas. Riches, mariners, pilots and men of war all fall. The seafarers come down from their ships, cast dust on their heads, shave themselves bald, put on sackcloth and lament: "What city is like Tyrus". Merchants hiss at her, and she will never be any more.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 27:2, Ezekiel 27:3, Ezekiel 27:5, Ezekiel 27:6, Ezekiel 27:7, Ezekiel 27:8, Ezekiel 27:9, Ezekiel 27:10, Ezekiel 27:12, Ezekiel 27:13, Ezekiel 27:14, Ezekiel 27:15, Ezekiel 27:16, Ezekiel 27:17, Ezekiel 27:18, Ezekiel 27:21, Ezekiel 27:22, Ezekiel 27:26, Ezekiel 27:27, Ezekiel 27:30, Ezekiel 27:31, Ezekiel 27:32, Ezekiel 27:36

Ezekiel 27 (KJV)

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

20Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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;

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:

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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Historical context

This chapter carries no date heading; it opens "The word of the Lord came again unto me" and follows the dated oracle of chapter 26. It is a lamentation the prophet is commanded to take up, spoken to Tyrus in the second person. The trading list names peoples and goods as the text gives them; Judah and the land of Israel appear among Tyrus's merchants, and Javan, Tubal and Meshech are said to have traded "the persons of men". Dedan is listed twice, once with ivory and ebony and once with clothes for chariots, and Javan twice. The chapter does not say what any of these names correspond to beyond the goods attached to them. Unlike chapter 26, no king or army is named as the agent of Tyrus's fall; the ruin comes from "the east wind" breaking the ship "in the midst of the seas". The mourners are the mariners, pilots and merchants of the sea, not Israel. Nothing in the chapter gives a timing for the fall.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 27:1, Ezekiel 27:2, Ezekiel 27:13, Ezekiel 27:15, Ezekiel 27:17, Ezekiel 27:19, Ezekiel 27:20, Ezekiel 27:26, Ezekiel 27:29

Literary context

The whole chapter is one extended figure: Tyrus is a ship, built plank by plank from the best of every region, crewed and defended by foreigners, and loaded by a market that stretches across the known names of the text. The boast "I am of perfect beauty" is echoed by the lament's own line "thy builders have perfected thy beauty" and again by "they have made thy beauty perfect", so that the catalogue itself is the evidence for the claim. The turn comes at a single verse: the rowers bring the ship into great waters and the east wind breaks it. Everything the catalogue assembled is then listed again in the moment of falling, riches, fairs, merchandise, mariners, pilots, calkers and men of war. The seafarers' lament is a poem inside the poem, opening with the question "What city is like Tyrus" and remembering how her wares enriched the kings of the earth. The closing line, "thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more", repeats the ending of chapter 26 almost word for word, binding the two oracles together.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 27:3, Ezekiel 27:4, Ezekiel 27:11, Ezekiel 27:24, Ezekiel 27:25, Ezekiel 27:26, Ezekiel 27:27, Ezekiel 27:32, Ezekiel 27:33, Ezekiel 27:36, Ezekiel 26:21

Key moments

  1. I am of perfect beauty (Ezekiel 27:3). Tyrus is quoted claiming perfect beauty as the lament begins.
  2. The ship built from many lands (Ezekiel 27:5). Her boards are fir from Senir and her masts cedars from Lebanon.
  3. Judah among her merchants (Ezekiel 27:17). Judah and the land of Israel trade wheat, honey, oil and balm in her market.
  4. The east wind breaks the ship (Ezekiel 27:26). The rowers bring Tyrus into great waters and the east wind breaks her.
  5. Seafarers mourn in sackcloth (Ezekiel 27:31). Mariners and pilots shave their heads and put on sackcloth for Tyrus.
  6. What city is like Tyrus (Ezekiel 27:32). The mourners' lament asks what city was like the one destroyed in the sea.

For reflection

The lament spends most of its length admiring what Tyrus built and traded before a single verse breaks the ship. What is the effect of being made to count the cargo before watching it sink?

People in this chapter

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