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The Prophets · Old Testament

Ezekiel 28

Ezekiel 28: the prince and king of Tyrus, Zidon, and Israel gathered

General context

The Lord tells the prophet to speak to the prince of Tyrus, whose heart is lifted up and who has said "I am a God, I sit in the seat of God". The answer is that he is a man and not God. He is called wiser than Daniel; by wisdom and traffick he has gathered gold and silver, and his heart is lifted up because of his riches. Strangers, the terrible of the nations, will draw swords against his wisdom's beauty and bring him down to the pit, and he will die the deaths of the uncircumcised. A second word is a lamentation for the king of Tyrus: he seals up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty; he has been in Eden the garden of God, covered with precious stones; he is the anointed cherub that covers, set on the holy mountain of God, walking among stones of fire, perfect until iniquity was found in him. Through the multitude of his merchandise he has been filled with violence, so the Lord casts him out of the mountain, lays him before kings and brings fire from his midst to reduce him to ashes. A third word is against Zidon: pestilence and blood in her streets, so that she is no longer a pricking brier to the house of Israel. The chapter ends with the Lord gathering the house of Israel from the peoples, so that they dwell safely, build houses and plant vineyards in the land given to Jacob.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 28:2, Ezekiel 28:3, Ezekiel 28:4, Ezekiel 28:5, Ezekiel 28:7, Ezekiel 28:8, Ezekiel 28:10, Ezekiel 28:12, Ezekiel 28:13, Ezekiel 28:14, Ezekiel 28:15, Ezekiel 28:16, Ezekiel 28:17, Ezekiel 28:18, Ezekiel 28:21, Ezekiel 28:23, Ezekiel 28:24, Ezekiel 28:25, Ezekiel 28:26

Ezekiel 28 (KJV)

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

2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

3Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

4With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

5By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

6Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

7Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

8They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

9Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

10Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

11Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

12Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

14Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

15Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

16By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

20Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

21Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,

22And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

23For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

24And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

25Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.

26And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The chapter contains three separately introduced words of the Lord, and the third ends with a further "Thus saith the Lord God" promise to Israel. The first is addressed to "the prince of Tyrus" and the second, a lamentation, to "the king of Tyrus"; the text does not say whether these are the same person or explain the change of title. Daniel is named as a measure of wisdom without any further identification here. The lamentation applies the language of Eden, the garden of God, precious stones, an anointed cherub and the holy mountain of God to the king of Tyrus directly; the chapter gives no other referent for these lines, and readings that attach them to some other figure go beyond what is printed. The agents of the prince's death are "strangers" and "the terrible of the nations", not named. The Zidon oracle and the closing promise to Israel are brief and undated. The promise speaks of Israel scattered "among the people" and of the land "that I have given to my servant Jacob", but gives no time for the gathering.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 28:1, Ezekiel 28:2, Ezekiel 28:11, Ezekiel 28:12, Ezekiel 28:3, Ezekiel 28:13, Ezekiel 28:14, Ezekiel 28:7, Ezekiel 28:20, Ezekiel 28:25

Literary context

The first oracle is built on one contrast stated twice: the prince says "I am a God", and the Lord answers "thou art a man, and not God", then asks whether he will still say it "before him that slayeth thee". Wisdom and riches are linked in a chain, wisdom gaining riches and riches lifting the heart, and the sentence falls on "the beauty of thy wisdom". The lamentation for the king keeps the themes of beauty and traffick from chapter 27 ("perfect in beauty", "the iniquity of thy traffick") but raises the setting to Eden, the mountain of God and stones of fire, so that the fall is from a great height: "I will cast thee to the ground". Fire that comes "from the midst of thee" makes the ruin self-generated. The short Zidon oracle turns on the refrain "they shall know that I am the Lord", used in each of three consecutive verses. The closing promise reverses the movement of the chapter: while Tyrus and Zidon are cast down, Israel is gathered, and the "pricking brier" of hostile neighbours is removed.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 28:2, Ezekiel 28:9, Ezekiel 28:5, Ezekiel 28:7, Ezekiel 28:12, Ezekiel 27:3, Ezekiel 28:18, Ezekiel 28:17, Ezekiel 28:22, Ezekiel 28:24, Ezekiel 28:26

Key moments

  1. I am a God, says the prince (Ezekiel 28:2). The prince of Tyrus is quoted claiming to sit in the seat of God, and is told he is a man.
  2. Wiser than Daniel (Ezekiel 28:3). The Lord says the prince is wiser than Daniel and no secret is hidden from him.
  3. Lament for the king of Tyrus (Ezekiel 28:12). A lamentation calls the king full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
  4. Cherub cast from the mountain (Ezekiel 28:16). Filled with violence through merchandise, the covering cherub is cast out of the mountain of God.
  5. Zidon judged (Ezekiel 28:23). The Lord sends pestilence and blood into Zidon's streets.
  6. Israel gathered to dwell safely (Ezekiel 28:26). Israel will build houses and plant vineyards when judgments fall on those who despised them.

For reflection

The prince of Tyrus is told that his wisdom is real ("wiser than Daniel") and that it is exactly what has been corrupted by riches and brightness. When does a genuine strength turn into the thing that brings someone down?

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