INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 27
Ezekiel chapter 27 is an extended allegory about Tyre, the dominant maritime trading power of the ancient Mediterranean. It compares the wealthy, seafaring city-state to a luxury merchant ship that gets caught in a storm, breaks apart and sinks. This magnificent vessel has been built by superior craftsmen, constructed using the finest materials, is crewed by the best sailors and sails fully laden with goods sourced from all over the then-known world.
This allegory symbolises Tyre’s economic prowess, international reach and importance as the centre of the world economy. Ezekiel mourns the impending destruction of the city by commenting on its beauty and glory, global trade network and the variety of goods it trades by means of a dirge. A dirge is a funeral lament but this one is not sympathetic. It is satirical and is uttered while Tyre is still very much alive. This blog post will examine the historical context, symbolism and key lessons of Ezekiel 27, showing why this ancient ‘shipwreck’ still matters today.
TYRE
Tyre was an important port for Phoenicia, a federation of independent city states famous in ancient times for seafaring and commerce. Just as the Arabs with their camel trains dominated the transportation of goods overland so the Phoenician merchant navy dominated the shipping routes; conveying goods to and from the three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe) bordering the Mediterranean. The prowess of the Phoenicians (Tyre, Sidon and Byblos) as merchants and human traffickers is acknowledged by the Old Testament Hebrew prophets (Isa 23:1-8, 17-18; Ezekiel 27:1-36; 28:1-5; Joel 3:4-7; Amos 1:9). Ezekiel chapter 27 is of special historical interest because it not only gives a list of commodities traded by the Tyrians but also details the many and widespread locations where they did business.
DIVISION
1-3 INTRODUCTION TO THE DIRGE ABOUT TYRE
4-7 THE BEAUTY OF TYRE’S CONSTRUCTION
8-9 THE PROFESSIONALISM OF TYRE’S CREW
10-11 THE STRENGTH OF TYRE’S MERCENARIES
12-25 TYRE’S TRADING NETWORK AND GOODS
26-36 TYRE’S SHIPWRECK AND THE AFTERMATH
EXPLANATION
INTRODUCTION TO THE DIRGE ABOUT TYRE (1-3)
(1) The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Chapter 27 begins with the prophetic word formula ‘The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying’ which is also at 26:1; 28:1 and 28:11. Ezekiel gives no date here or at 28:1 so chapters 27 and 28 must relate to the date given at 26:1 (the first day of an unspecified month in the eleventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile in Babylon and Zedekiah’s reign in Judah, i.e. 587/586 BCE). Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Tyre was from 585-573 BCE so that was still future when Ezekiel prophesied chapters 26-28.
(2) Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
Addressing Ezekiel as usual by the title ‘son of Adam’ the Lord emphatically says ‘And you,’ which the KJV translates ‘Now, thou…’ This refers Ezekiel back to 26:17 which predicts that the princes of the sea will ‘take up a lamentation’ for Tyre when the city falls. As well as those princes Ezekiel too is to raise a dirge (qiynāh – funeral lamentation) but he is to do that now, when the city is still very much alive.
(3) 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 is to address the city of Tyre directly and present first of all the Lord’s view of her and then her view of herself (‘O you who sit’ is feminine).
The Lord’s view:
- ‘you who sit (as queen?) at the gateway to the sea’ – the city controlled access to the Mediterranean Sea
- ‘you are a merchant to the peoples on many coasts’ – Tyre was the centre of world trade
Tyre’s view of herself:
‘You have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’ Tyre, full of vanity, claimed for herself (see repetition of ‘beauty’ in vv. 3, 4, 11) what could only truly be said of Jerusalem (Psa 48:2; Lam 2:15; Ezek 16:14).
4-7 THE BEAUTY OF TYRE’S CONSTRUCTION
(4) Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
There is no doubt that Tyre is beautiful. Ezekiel recognises and repeats that fact in v.4. Tyre’s domain is in the high seas – she is a great maritime power – the expression ‘in the midst of the seas’ occurs 4 times in chapter 27 – in vv.4, 25, 26, 27. Her builders have made her beauty perfect.
(5) They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
Verse 5 clarifies that the builders referred to in v.4 are shipbuilders. Tyre is being metaphorically portrayed as a beautiful, well-crafted merchant ship that has been constructed using the finest materials. Ship boards probably refers to the hull, deck and cabin. These planks were ‘of fir trees,’ probably cypress, from Senir – according to Deut 3:8-9 Senir was the Amorite name for Mt. Hermon: And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon; (Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir). The masts are made of cedar – tall, straight, strong trees – from Lebanon. Regarding the word for masts MacLaurin (1978, p.80) comments:
‘toren: this word is found also in Is 30:17; 33:23. . . Is 30: 17 seems to refer to a solitary tree-trunk set as a signal on a hill. The word may occur in Job 39:23 with the meaning spear but this is uncertain. One thing is clear from the Hebrew, the word does not specifically mean mast; it seems rather to denote something which could serve as a flagpole or even perhaps the long stem of a spear.’
(6) Of 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.
Propulsion was by oars of strong oak from Bashan. This symbolises the ability to reach far-flung places quickly. Extravagance and opulence are again emphasised with the ‘benches’ or perhaps decks (a different word for boards to that in v.5 ) inlaid with ivory from the Tyrian colony of Chittim (Cyprus). Modern translations, whether rightly or wrongly, tend to update ‘company of Ashurites’ to ‘decks of boxwood.’ Ivory was regarded as a luxury construction material (1 Kgs 22:39; Amos 3:15).
(7) Fine linen with embroidered 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.
The impression of luxury continues with the sails and awnings made of the finest textiles such as woven or embroidered Egyptian linen. These have been prepared with great craftmanship and using high quality dyes from the isles of Elishah – thought to refer to southern Greece, including part of Cyprus. For blue and purple as luxury fabrics cf. Judge 8:26; Esther 1:6; 8:15; Prov 31:22; Song of Sol 3:10; 7:5; Jer 10:9; Ezek 23:6; 27:7, 16, 24.
8-9 THE PROFESSIONALISM OF TYRE’S CREW
(8) The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
Tyre outsourced labour from neighbouring city-states like Sidon and Arvad but her own skilled men (nobility and senators) retained overall strategic control. Arvad, located on a island, was the most northerly Phoenician town. Peckham (2014, pp.110-111) writes concerning the history of Arvad:
‘Arvad is an island slightly to the northwest of ʿAmrit. In the Amarna period, it had no king but was a community, “the people of Arvad,” consistently aligned with Sidon in its resistance to Egyptian authority. It is mentioned together with Sidon, along with ʿArqa and Sumur, in a few biblical texts (Gen 10:17–18, Ezek 27:8) and, according to Strabo, it was resettled by Sidonians following the invasion of the Sea Peoples. Together with Sidon and Byblos, it paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser I (1114–1076 B.C.E.), and from that time on it was known to the Assyrians as an exotic place worth visiting. . . The town supplied 200 troops to the anti-Assyrian coalition at the battle of Qarqar in 853 B.C.E., and it is still noted as a source of mercenaries in Ezekiel’s description of Tyre’s dominions. . . By the mid-ninth century, Arvad was an independent kingdom, ruled by a king with the good Phoenician name Mattinbaʿl (“Gift of Baʿal”), and his successors in the eighth and seventh century (whose names were the same as his or were similarly composed with the name or epithet of the God Baʿal) saw to the survival and prosperity of the island by submitting to Assyria. . . Arvad, like Sidon, cooperated with the Assyrians and became one of their ports and eventually a formidable naval power but, unlike Sidon, it was unpretentious and easygoing and outlasted both the Assyrian and the Persian Empires.’
(9) The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy caulkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
Tyre was able to draw upon the best talent available for every aspect of its maritime business. The elders of Gebal and its wise men are said to be ‘caulkers.’ This tells us that the ship Ezekiel envisages is carvel-built (although clinker-built ships were appearing around that time in history). Unlike clinker-built vessels, where planks overlap, carvel planks meet flush at the seams and are traditionally sealed with caulking to prevent water ingress. In Ezekiel’s time the small gap between planks would have been caulked with cotton or hemp soaked in tar and then sealed over with pitch. Gebal is another name for Byblos – a Phoenician town famous for its very clever people – they invented the Phoenician alphabet, from which most modern alphabets have descended (see Peckham (2014, p.461).
10-11 THE STRENGTH OF TYRE’S MERCENARIES
(10-11) They 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. The 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.
Tyre could afford to recruit foreign mercenaries as soldiers (army) and as security guards (upon thy walls). These are pictured as occupants of the ship. Lud is Lydia in Anatolia, Asia Minor and Put is thought to be an area on the African coast of the Red Sea (Gen 10:6; Nah 3:9). ‘Shield and helmet’ – see Ezek 23:24; 27:10; 38:5). For Arvad see comments on v.8. The location of Gammad is unknown.
Ezekiel turns from Tyre itself to give a list of those with whom Tyre does business and the goods traded.
12-25 TYRE’S TRADING NETWORK AND GOODS
Huebscher (2015, p.24) comments that the section vv.12-15 contains a list of the trading partners and the wares that were loaded on the metaphorical ship of Tyre. They are generally arranged by geographical concerns: vv 12–15, Mediterranean areas and Asia Minor; vv 16–17, Palestinian regions from south to north; vv 18–19, Syria; vv 20–22, Arabia; and vv 23–24, Mesopotamia.
(12) Tarshish – Because of the mention of metals (silver, iron, tin and lead) and the implication in Psa 72:10 that Tarshish is in the far west this may well refer to Tartessus – a Phoenician colony in Spain that was rich in metals.
(13) Javan, Tubal, and Meshech. Javan represents the Ionians or ancient Greeks (Isa 66:19; Dan 8:21, 10:20, 11:2). Tubal and Meshech were regions in central and western Asia Minor. They appear together 5 times in Ezekiel (Ezek 27:13: 32:26; 38:2, 3; 39:21). Human beings are listed, along with bronze, as a commodity.
(14) According to Huebscher (2015, p.29) Beth-Togarmah means “House of Togarmah” in Hebrew. This people group, which is mentioned in Gen 10:3, is descended from Noah’s son Japheth and grandson Gomar. They lived in Asia Minor east of Tubal, in the area of the upper Euphrates River.They were well known for their horse breeding, as evidenced by the records of the Neo-Assyrian kings Ashurbanipal and Sargon II.
(15) There are several possibilities for Dedan (mentioned again in v.20). It is generally identified as Rhodes but Huebscher (2015, p.31) concludes that it is Danuna in Anatolia. Dedan gave horns of ivory and ebony wood as payment or as ‘presents’ to Tyre. The only other occurrence of the word ’eškār is in Psa 72:10 where it describes gifts brought to Solomon from the kings of Sheba and Seba.
(16) Syria (Aram) traded with Tyre in precious stones (emeralds, coral, agate) as well as dyed fabrics and luxury textiles.
(17) Even then, just before the Babylonian conquest, Judah and the land of Israel were trading agricultural products with Tyre. Wheat of Minnith – located in in the Trans-Jordan territory of Ammon (Judg 11:33), pannag – an unknown ‘meal’ translated as millet – plus honey, oil and balm. The latter was used for medicine (cf. my post on the Balm of Gilead – Jeremiah 8:20-22). Ezekiel is still referring to ‘the land of Israel’ even though the Northern kingdom of Israel had been dismantled and thousands of inhabitants forcibly deported and relocated throughout the Assyrian empire more than 130 years earlier.
(18) Aram has already been mentioned in v.16 but this verse concentrates on premium luxury goods (white wool and fine wine of Helbon) from the area around Damascus.
(19) More luxury items from Damascus are listed; aromatic substances such as Cassia (Exod 30:24) and Calamus (Exod 30:23; Isa 43:24; Jer 6:20 ‘sweet cane’ is calamus reed) as well as wrought iron products. Note: there is a difficulty with the text at the beginning of v.19 – for technical discussion see Huebscher (2015, pp.35-36). The places Dan, Javan and Uzal have been transposed over what should have been products.
(20) Dedan (previously mentioned in v.15) is mentioned again, this time for the supply of saddlecloths for riding. This, however, may be Dedan in Arabia.
(21-24) These verses list nomadic tribes/people groups in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and in Mesopotamia along with the products they traded. Arabia and Kedar traded livestock; lambs, rams and goats. Sheba and Raamah traded spices, precious stones and gold. In Mesopotamia the merchants of Haran (capital of Assyria after the fall of Nineveh), Canneh, Eden, Sheba, Asshur (Assyria) and Chilmad traded all kinds of luxury goods; such as purple clothing, embroidered garments and what is reckoned to be multicoloured carpets bound in ropes and shipped in wooden boxes made of cedar. Verse 24 brings the list of trading partners and wares to a conclusion.
(25) ‘Ship of Tarshish’ is a specific term for a type of large, long-distance ocean-going vessel (1 Kgs 10:22; 22:48; Psa 48:7; Isa 2:16; 23:1, 14; 60:9). These impressive boats transported Tyre’s merchandise with the result that it was filled and ‘made very glorious’ (heavily laden) in the midst of the seas. This phrase ‘in the midst of the sea’ occurs in vv. 25, 26 and 27.
26-36 TYRE’S SHIPWRECK AND THE AFTERMATH
Tyre’s state of fullness and glory sets the stage for its shipwreck and destruction when the east wind blows and breaks it apart.
(26) DISASTER STRIKES – Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
Guided by its own efforts (your oarsmen) Tyre meets a power that is beyond its control. The ‘east wind’ is a biblical metaphor for divine judgement (e.g. Exod 14:21; Ezek 17:10; 19:12). In this case the ‘east wind’ will come in the form of the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar.
(27) TOTAL LOSS – Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy caulkers, 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.
Everyone and everything on board will sink into the ‘heart’ of the seas. All her workers, warriors and wares will perish. Tyre’s commercial empire will be broken up and her economy totally destroyed.
(28-31) THE REACTION – The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. And 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; And 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: And 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.
The coastal areas of the mainland near Tyre will be shocked. They depend economically on Tyre so their sailors and merchants will mourn and cry bitterly, not so much out of sympathy for Tyre as for their lost profits and the financial problems Tyre’s ruin will cause for them. They are depicted as performing traditional mourning rites: casting dust on their heads, wallowing in ashes, shaving their heads, putting on sackcloth and wailing aloud. For dust/ashes cf. Job 2:12; 42:6; Jer 6:26; 25:34.
(32) A LAMENT WITHIN A LAMENT – And 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?
Here we have a lament within a lament. The fall of such a powerful maritime trading empire is unprecedented. The basis of Tyre’s wealth is the sea but, ironically, that is where she will be destroyed.
(33-34) A STARK CONTRAST – When 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. In 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.
Verses 33-34 contrast what Tyre was with what it will soon be. It once satisfied many peoples and enriched the kings of the earth with its wares but soon, when shipwrecked, its merchandise and crew will sink into the depths of the ocean.
(35-36) THE WORLD’S REACTION AND THE FINAL VERDICT – All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance. The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.
The wider world will hiss in shock, astonishment and derision at the judgement that Tyre will suffer. The nations will be relieved that they seem to have escaped but at the same time fearful lest the same doom should come upon them all. Tyre will become a byword among the nations.
The final words of Ezekiel’s lament aptly sum up Tyre’s situation: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more. (‘You will come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.’) This description of Tyre also occurs in Ezek 26:21 and 28:19.
Note: A question remains whether Ezekiel’s prophecies about Tyre were actually fulfilled but I hope to address that when considering chapter 29.
SUMMATION
Ezekiel 27 provides one of the most detailed descriptions of trade networks found in ancient literature but why would the Lord be interested in Tyre’s trade logs and shipping routes? Ezekiel’s catalogue of Tyre’s trading partners and wares demonstrates how the city built an empire on self-sufficiency, influence and luxury rather than righteousness for, as well as trading raw materials, agricultural products, metals, precious stones and textiles, Tyre was involved in the trafficking of slaves. The poetic funeral dirge uses the metaphor of a shipwreck to illustrate the judgement that the Lord will bring upon the city. This cautionary tale serves as a warning to all nations that even the most powerful political and commercial empires are under God’s control. It is a reminder to us all that self-glorification and the relentless pursuit of wealth without regard for God ends in ruin.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Dowler, A. and Galvin, E.R. (2011). Money, Trade and Trade Routes in Pre-Islamic North Africa. London: The British Museum.
Fleming, W. B. (1915), The History of Tyre, Columbia University Press, New York
Holt E. K., Chul, H. and Mein, A. (2015). Concerning the Nations: Essays on the Oracles Against the Nations in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Bloomsbury, London
Launderville, D. (2007). Spirit and Reason: the Embodied Character of Ezekiel’s Symbolic Thinking. Baylor University Press, Waco, Texas
Lee, L. (2016). Mapping Judah’s Fate in Ezekiel’s Oracles Against the Nations. SBL Press, Atlanta
Liverani, M. (2013). The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy, Routledge, Oxon
Middlemas, J. (2012), ‘Ships and other Seafaring Vessels in the Old Testament,’ in Provan, I and Boda, M.J. (eds.). Let us go up to Zion: Essays in Honour of H.G.M. Williamson on the Occasion of his Sixty-fifth Birthday, Brill, Leiden, pp. 407-421
Peckham, B. (2014). Phoenicia: Episodes and Anecdotes from the Ancient Mediterranean, Eisenbrauns. Winona Lake, Indiana
Sader, H. (2019). The History and Archaeology of Phoenicia. SBL Press, Atlanta
Scheidel, W., Morris, I. and Saller, R.P. (2007). The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Schoff, W.H. (1920). The Ship “Tyre” – a Symbol of the Fate of Conquerors as Prophesied by Isaiah, Ezekiel and John and Fulfilled at Nineveh, Babylon and Rome: a Study in the Commerce of the Bible, Longmans, Green & Co, London
Van Dijk, H. J. (1968). Ezekiel’s Prophecy on Tyre (26,1-28,19): A New Approach, Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome
Von, A., Radner, K., Moeller, N., Potts, D.T. (2023). The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, Volume IV. Oxford University Press, USA.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Katz, H. (2008) The Ship from Uluburun and the Ship from Tyre: An International Trade Network in the Ancient Near East, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, Vol.. 124, No. 2, pp. 128-142
Leonard-Fleckman, M, (2022) Lamenting Tyre (Ezekiel 27): A Unique Perspective on Judah’s Proximate Other, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel, Vol. 11. No. 2, pp.134-151
MacLaurin, E. C. B. (1978). The Phoenician Ship from Tyre Described in Ezekiel 27. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Vol.7, No.1, pp.80–83
Saur, M. (2010). Ezekiel 26-28 and the History of Tyre. Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, Vol.24, No2, pp.208–221
Udd, K.J. (2005). Prediction and Foreknowledge in Ezekiel’s Prophecy against Tyre. Tyndale Bulletin. Vol. 56, Issue 1
Vayntrub, J. (2020) Tyre’s Glory and Demise: Totalizing Description in Ezekiel 27. CBQ, Vol. 82, No. 2, pp.214– 236.
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
Bradshaw, R.I. (2026). The City of Tyre in History and Prophecy. [online] Biblicalstudies.org.uk. Available at: https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_tyre.html [Accessed 01 June 2026].
Huebscher, S.L. (2015). The Lament over Tyre in Ezekiel 27:1-25. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/7125003/2015_The_lament_over_Tyre_in_Ezekiel_27_1_25 [Accessed 01 June 2026].
Rich, S. (2013). Ship Timber as Symbol? Dendro-provenancing & Contextualizing Ancient Cedar Ship Remains from the East Mediterranean / Near East. [online] Available at: https://kuleuven.limo.libis.be/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=lirias1816006&context=SearchWebhook&vid=32KUL_KUL:Lirias&lang=en&search_scope=lirias_profile&adaptor=SearchWebhook&tab=LIRIAS&query=any,contains,LIRIAS1816006&offset=0 [Accessed 01 June 2026].
Written Exposition 