Major Prophets · Chapter 27 of 48

Ezekiel 27

God tells Ezekiel to raise a lament over Tyre, picturing her as a magnificent merchant ship built of the finest materials from many lands and crewed by skilled sailors. A long catalogue lists the nations that traded in her markets and the goods that made her rich. Then the east wind wrecks the splendid vessel in the heart of the seas. Her wealth, sailors, and merchants sink, and the coastlands wail.

What happens in Ezekiel 27

Ezekiel takes up a funeral song for Tyre, portraying the city as a beautiful ship. Her planks are fir from Senir, her mast a cedar of Lebanon, her oars oaks of Bashan, her deck ivory, her sail embroidered Egyptian linen, her awnings blue and purple from the isles. Skilled men of Sidon, Arvad, and Gebal serve as her mariners, pilots, and caulkers. Then follows a sweeping trade catalogue: Tarshish, Javan, Tubal, Persia, Lud, Arabia, Sheba, Damascus, and many more bring silver, iron, horses, ivory, emeralds, wine, wool, spices, gold, and even the persons of men.

Tyre is replenished and glorious in the midst of the seas. But her rowers bring her into deep waters, and the east wind breaks her. Her riches, crew, and merchandise sink into the sea, and mariners, pilots, and the coastlands mourn the vanished city with bitter wailing.

Ezekiel 27 in context

The central panel of the Tyre oracles, an extended lament in the style of a funeral dirge, though the city has not yet fallen. Tyre was the ancient world's premier trading hub, linking Mediterranean and Near Eastern commerce. Ezekiel's detailed catalogue of trading partners and luxury goods is a remarkable window into ancient economics, and it heightens the tragedy: the greater the glory, the greater the fall.

The ship imagery fits a seafaring people whose life and pride were bound to the sea.

Main themes of Ezekiel 27

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.

Verses to carry from Ezekiel 27

“And 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.”Ezekiel 27:3

“Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.”Ezekiel 27:26

“Thy 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.”Ezekiel 27:27

Reflection

Tyre was a masterpiece of human achievement, admired across the world, and one wind sank it all. Consider the impressive things you or your culture have built, and ask what would remain if the east wind came. Jesus offers riches that no wind can wreck. Invest your deepest hopes in what cannot drown.

A prayer from Ezekiel 27