The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and valiant men were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around. They have perfected your beauty.
Parallel Translations
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The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and valiant men were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around. They have perfected your beauty.
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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.
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The men of Arvad and Helech were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were in thy towers; they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have perfected thy beauty.
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 27:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 27:3-4 and tell Tyre, ‘You who dwell at the entry of the sea, who are the merchant of the peoples to many islands, the Lord Yahweh says: “You, Tyre, have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’ Your borders are in the heart of the seas. Your builders have perfected your beauty.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, they of Cappadocia, or Pygmies and dwarfs,…
That is, they of Cappadocia, or Pygmies and dwarfs, which were so called, because that out of the high towers they seemed little.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 27:11 The men of Arvad with thine army…
Eze 27:11 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.
Ver. 11. And the Gammadims.] These were not pigmies, as the Vulgate rendereth it; nor Medes, as Symmachus; nor Cappadocians, as the Chaldee paraphrast; but Syrians of a city called Gamalla, whereof see Pliny. {a}
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{a} Nat. Hist., lib. ii. cap. 91.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Arvad: see Eze 27:8.
Arvad: see Eze 27:8.
With thine army; mixed with other hired soldiers, made up these military forces.
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Upon thy walls round about; kept guard upon the walls.
The Gammadims; some say pigmies or dwarfs, because the Hebrew word is a cubit; but the whole story of such cubit-men is fabulous. Others think it is men bold and courageous, and the word of Syriac origin and sense, and so fitly expressing the temper of Syrian or Syrophoenician soldiers. Or else, the men who name from Gammade, a town of Phoenicia. Or possibly, such as came from Aneon, another town of Phoenice; and this town had its name from its situation on a piece of land that resembles the cubit, Greek, Αγκως, and in the Hebrew, נוסר
In thy towers; which were many, erected for strength and defence.
Hanged their shields upon thy walls: by this it appears these towers were also public armories, whence they fetched arms when needful, and where they laid them up when no further use of them.
Made thy beauty perfect; added much to her beauty, a well-armed state being among states as beautiful as a proper well-armed soldier among men.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude…
Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches,.... Some understand this of the sea, which is sometimes called Tarshish; so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it here: and the Targum,
"from the sea, or they of the sea bring merchandise into the midst of thee:''
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that is, those who lived upon the coasts, or on the isles, of the Mediterranean sea. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it the Carthaginians, who were a colony of the Tyrians, and no doubt traded with them; but it seems most likely, with others, to intend Tartessus in Spain, a place not far from that where Cadiz now stands; a country which abounded with riches, and with the following things:
with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs; Pliny (t) says, that almost all Spain abounded in metals of lead, iron, brass, silver, and gold; which takes in the several things here mentioned, excepting tin; and that the Spaniards might have from our Cornwall, which they might import into Tyre: though the Phoenicians carried on a commerce with our isle of Britain themselves, whither they came for tin, and disposed of other goods they brought with them. Gussetius (u) observes, that the word does not signify the place of trade and traffic, as it is commonly rendered; but respects the goods traded in, and the manner of trafficking with them, by way of "exchange", as the word should be rendered; and the sense is, that the things before mentioned were what they gave in exchange, battered, and "left", with the Tyrians, for other goods they took of them; and so it is to be understood in all the following places where the word is used. So Ben Melech says it is expressive of merchandise.
(t) Nat. Hist. l. 3. c. 3. (u) Ebr. Comment. p. 594, 595.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain With - Mixed with other hired soldiers. The Gammadim…
With - Mixed with other hired soldiers. The Gammadim - Probably men of Gammade, a town of Phoenicia.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. The Gammadims were in thy towers] Some…
Verse 11. The Gammadims were in thy towers] Some think these were a people of Phoenicia; others, that tutelar images are meant; others, that the word expresses strong men, who acted as guards. The Vulgate reads Pygmaei, the pygmies, who were fabled to be a little people of a cubit in height, from גמד gomed. a cubit; and are are told that this little people were celebrated for their wars with the cranes; but nothing of this kind can enter into this description. Probably a people inhabiting the promontories of Phoenicia are here intended; and their hanging their shields upon the walls is a proof that soldiers are meant, and persons of skill and prowess too.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The Pygmeans. That is, strong and valiant men. In…
The Pygmeans. That is, strong and valiant men. In Hebrew Gammadim. (Challoner) --- He does not speak of those fabulous men hardly a cubit high. Gomed signifying a "cubit," has caused them to be styled so here. Septuagint, "guards;" or Symmachus, "Medes." Ezechiel (xxxviii. 6.) speaks of the Gomerim.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Gammadims--rather, as the Tyrians were Syro-PhÅ“nicians, from a Syriac…
Gammadims--rather, as the Tyrians were Syro-Phœnicians, from a Syriac root, meaning daring, "men of daring" [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU]. It is not likely the keeping of watch "in the towers" would have been entrusted to foreigners. Others take it from a Hebrew root, "a dagger," or short sword (Jdg 3:16), short-swordsmen."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. Arvad — See Eze_27:8.
11. Arvad — See Eze_27:8.
The Gammadim — R.V., margin, “valorous men.” No land or city of Gammad is known. Perhaps, as has been suggested, this was a technical term for the select corps of the Tyrian army — like the “Immortals” of the Persians or the “Old Guard” of Napoleon.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. with thine army] It is scarcely possible to…
11. with thine army] It is scarcely possible to render: men of Arvad, they were thine army. Some proper name seems required: the men of Arvad and of … Cornill conjectures Hethlon (Eze_47:15, Eze_48:1), others, Cilicia.
the Gammadims] A proper name is certainly to be expected, but no place, Gammad, is known. Some have suggested “they of Gomer,” but an adj. is not formed from Gomer; Corn., Zemarites, Gen_10:18. Others take the word as an appellative: brave warriors.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) The Gammadims were in thy towers.—No people of…
(11) The Gammadims were in thy towers.—No people of this name is known, and it is extremely unlikely that the responsible posts upon the watch-towers would have been entrusted to foreigners. The word occurs only here, and is probably not a proper name, but should be translated brave men.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain (For Arvad, see Ver. 8.) Gammadim. The LXX translates…
(For Arvad, see Ver. 8.) Gammadim. The LXX translates "guards" (fulakev); the Vulgate, Pygmies, probably as connecting the name with Gamad (equivalent to "a cubit"). The Targum gives "watchmen;" Gesenius, "warriors:" Hitzig, "deserters." The name probably indicates that they were the flower of the Tyrian army the life-guards (like the "Immortals" of the Persians) of the merchant-city. On the whole, we must leave the problem as one that we have no data for solving. The grouping with Arvad, however, suggests a Syrian or Phoenician tribe. They hanged their shields. The custom seems to have been specially Phoenician. Solomon introduced it at Jerusalem. (Son_4:4) The sight of the walls thus decorated, the shields being sometimes gilt or painted, must have been sufficiently striking to warrant Ezekiel"s phrase that thus the beauty of the city was "made perfect" by it. The custom reappears in RAPC 1Ma 4:57.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 27:11 Helech is Cilicia, the area around Tarsus on…
27:11 Helech is Cilicia, the area around Tarsus on the northeast shore of the Mediterranean. • The location of Gammad is less certain, but it may have been in northern Syria.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.