Bible Strands
Ezekiel 27:8
The men of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen. Your men of skill, O Tyre, were there as your captains.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel addresses the city of Tyre with a prophetic lament detailing its maritime trade network. The oracle describes Tyre’s commercial peak by mapping its naval infrastructure to specific allied city-states.
The words — צִידוֹן (Sidon) and אַרְוַד (Arvad) identify the coastal populations supplying rowers, while חֲכָמֶיךָ (your skillful ones) specifies Tyre’s own expert captains. These terms anchor the ship metaphor in concrete geopolitical actors rather than abstract commerce.
The thread — Arvad appears in Genesis 10:18 as a Canaanite clan and reappears in Ezekiel 27:11 as a garrison force, linking navigation to defense. 1 Kings 9:27 records Hiram’s sailors joining Solomon’s fleet, confirming the historical pattern of coastal alliances supporting Tyre’s maritime operations.
Why it lands — The text records Tyre’s dependence on foreign rowers and its own expert captains to maintain its trade dominance. It demands acknowledgment that human expertise and political alliances, however extensive, remain contingent structures subject to divine assessment.
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
The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
Cross-references
- Genesis 10:18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans were scattered,
- 1 Kings 9:27 And Hiram sent his servants, sailors who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants.
- Ezekiel 27:11 Men of Arvad and Helech manned your walls all around, and the men of Gammad were in your towers. They hung their shields around your walls; they perfected your beauty.
- Genesis 10:15 And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
- Genesis 49:13 Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon.
- Joshua 11:8 and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.
- 1 Kings 5:6 Now therefore, order that cedars of Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever wages you set, for you know that there are none among us as skilled in logging as the Sidonians.”
- 2 Chronicles 2:13 So now I am sending you Huram-abi, a skillful man endowed with creativity.
- Isaiah 10:9 “Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
- Jeremiah 49:23 Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.