Ezekiel 28:4

By your wisdom and understanding you have gained your wealth and amassed gold and silver for your treasuries.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The prophet Ezekiel addresses the king of Tyre during a formal prophetic declaration, contrasting the ruler’s renowned discernment with impending judgment.

The words — חָכְמָתְךָ (cha.khe.ma.te./kha) translates as “your wisdom,” and עָשִׂיתָ ('a.Si.ta) means “you have acquired,” both emphasizing human agency in wealth accumulation.

The thread — The tension between self-made prosperity and divine sovereignty recurs in Deuteronomy 8:17, Proverbs 18:11, and Proverbs 23:4, where wealth is either mistaken for self-sufficiency or warned against as a trap.

Why it lands — The text records that the ruler credited his own discernment as the direct cause of his gold and silver hoards, demanding a reader to examine whether they attribute material gain to human skill rather than external or divine provision.

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

בְּחָכְמָֽתְךָ֙be./cha.khe.ma.te./Khaby/ wisdom/ your וּבִתְבוּנָ֣תְךָ֔u./vi/t.vu.Na.te./khaand/ by/ understanding/ your עָשִׂ֥יתָ'a.Si.tayou have acquiredלְּךָ֖le./Khafor/ yourselfחָ֑יִלCha.yilwealth וַתַּ֛עַשׂva./Ta.'asand/ you have acquired זָהָ֥בza.Havgold וָכֶ֖סֶףva./Khe.sefand/ silver בְּאוֹצְרוֹתֶֽיךָ׃be./'otz.ro.Tei./khain/ treasuries/ your

King James Version

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

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 8:17 You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.”
Proverbs 18:11 A rich man’s wealth is his fortified city; it is like a high wall in his imagination.
Proverbs 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.
Ezekiel 29:3 Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’
Habakkuk 1:16 Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich.
Zechariah 9:2 and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd.