Bible Strands
Ezekiel 27:3
Tell Tyre, who dwells at the gateway to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coasts, that this is what the Lord GOD says: You have said, O Tyre, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD commands Ezekiel to deliver a spoken oracle to Tyre, initiating a formal lament. The address targets a city described as sitting at the sea's entrances and trading with coastal peoples.
The words — The Hebrew imperative אָמַרְתָּ ('a.mar.Ta) means "you will say" or "tell," directing the prophet to confront Tyre's own declaration. The noun רֹכֶלֶת (ro.Khe.let) translates to "trader" or "merchant," specifying the city's commercial identity among the nations.
The thread — Tyre's claim of perfection mirrors the language used for Zion in Psalms 50:2 and parallels Isaiah 23:2's address to coastland merchants. Ezekiel 27:4 immediately follows by contrasting human builders' work with the city's actual maritime borders.
Why it lands — The text records Tyre's self-assertion of beauty without validating it, leaving the claim exposed to divine judgment. Readers must distinguish between human commercial pride and the actual source of lasting worth.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 27:4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders perfected your beauty.
- Psalms 50:2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
- Isaiah 23:2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.
- Isaiah 23:8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
- Isaiah 23:11 The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.
- Ezekiel 26:17 Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!
- Ezekiel 27:10 Men of Persia, Lydia, and Put served as warriors in your army. They hung their shields and helmets on your walls; they gave you splendor.
- Ezekiel 28:2 “Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.
- Revelation 18:3 All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”
- Revelation 18:11 And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo—