Bible Strands
Ezekiel 38:13
Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will ask, ‘Have you come to capture the plunder? Have you assembled your hordes to carry away loot, to make off with silver and gold, to take cattle and goods, to seize great spoil?’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel records a rhetorical inquiry from distant merchants and regional powers. They speak at the moment Israel dwells securely in the land, questioning the true motive of an invading coalition.
The words — `sh.Lol` (plunder) and `ke.fi.Rei` (young lions/its villages). The text uses the merchants' own vocabulary to frame a military campaign strictly as a greedy raid rather than a justified conquest.
The thread — The named traders reappear in Ezekiel 27:15 and 27:22 as part of a maritime trade network. The lion imagery echoes Ezekiel 32:2, where the prophet compares Pharaoh to a lion among nations and a monster in the seas.
Why it lands — It forces the reader to separate stated military objectives from underlying economic motives. It requires acknowledging that prophetic warnings must account for the hidden greed driving geopolitical actions.
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
Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 27:15 The men of Dedan were your clients; many coastlands were your market; they paid you with ivory tusks and ebony.
- Ezekiel 27:22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; for your wares they exchanged gold, the finest of all spices, and precious stones.
- Ezekiel 32:2 “Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’
- Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
- Jeremiah 51:38 They will roar together like young lions; they will growl like lion cubs.
- Ezekiel 19:3 She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.
- Ezekiel 25:13 therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.
- Ezekiel 27:12 Tarshish was your merchant because of your great wealth of goods; they exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for your wares.
- Ezekiel 27:20 Dedan was your merchant in saddlecloths for riding.
- Ezekiel 27:25 The ships of Tarshish carried your merchandise. And you were filled with heavy cargo in the heart of the sea.