“ ‘ “The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise. You were replenished and made very glorious in the heart of the seas.
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘ “The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise. You were replenished and made very glorious in the heart of the seas.
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The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
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The ships of Tarshish brought thee tribute for thy merchandise; so wast thou replenished, and made very heavy in the heart of the seas.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 27:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 2:16 for all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.
- Psalms 48:7 With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.
- Isaiah 23:14 Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!
- 1 Kings 10:22 For the king had a fleet of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
- Isaiah 60:9 Surely the islands will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, came in company toward thee.
Or, came in company toward thee.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 27:25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of…
Eze 27:25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
Ver. 25. Thou wast replenished and made very glorious.] Or, Very heavy: {a} as a ship, though not top full, may yet have freight enough to sink it; so had this metaphorical ship Tyre enough to sink it, though not enough to satisfy it.
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{a} Aggravata es.
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 Ships of Tarshish; the ships from all parts of…
Ships of Tarshish; the ships from all parts of the sea, which came to thee, and traded with thee, praised thee, boasted of thee.
Did sing of thee; had their songs of praise, which were made to commend thy state.
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In thy market; as mariners, in the ports where they arrive, usually do with mirth and songs entertain one another, so at Tyre.
Thou wast replenished; all trading came to thee, none like thee in thy warehouses or public stores.
Made very glorious; and, to do thee right, thou wert very glorious, magnificent, and beautiful, none like thee. Hitherto the prophet hath recounted Tyre’s greatness, now cometh her fall, foretold as if already come.
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 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters,.... Here…
Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters,.... Here the city of Tyre is compared to a vessel at sea, with great propriety, it being built in the sea, and its trade chiefly there; and its rulers and governors, or the inhabitants of it, to rowers; literally the men of Zidon and Arvad were her rowers, Eze 27:8, the straits, difficulties, and distresses these brought Tyre into, are compared to great waters; who, by some unadvised step or another, provoked the king of Babylon to come against them with his army, and lay siege unto them:
the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas; a wind very fatal to ships and mariners; see Psa 48:7, by it are meant Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army; so called, because of their great force and fury; and because Babylon, from whence they came, lay somewhat to the east of Tyre. So the Targum,
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"a king who is strong as the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.''
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 The ships - The ships from all parts of…
The ships - The ships from all parts of the sea. Did sing - Had their songs to commend thy state.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 25. The ships of Tarshish] The ships of…
Verse 25. The ships of Tarshish] The ships of Tharsis, in Cilicia, were the chief of those which traded with thee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 27:25. The ships of Tarshish did sing of…
Eze 27:25. The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee, &c. — Ships of Tarshish signify sometimes in Scripture any trading or merchant ships; and in this general sense the expression seems to be used here: the prophet, having already reckoned up the principal countries which traded with Tyre, now adds, in comprehensive terms, that all merchants, or traders, sung or spake great things of her riches: see note on Isa 2:16. In the midst of the seas — Through all the islands of the sea, the sea-coasts, and from one part to another.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Did sing of thee - Or, were thy bulwarks,…
Did sing of thee - Or, were thy bulwarks, i. e., bulwarks of thy traffic. Others render it: “were thy caravans,” thy merchandise.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Sea. Hebrew Tharsis, in Cilicia; or large, and fit…
Sea. Hebrew Tharsis, in Cilicia; or large, and fit for long voyages. Thine were the best. (Calmet)
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 sing of thee--personification; flay great merchant ships were palpable…
sing of thee--personification; flay great merchant ships were palpable proofs of thy greatness. Others translate from a different Hebrew root, "were thy (mercantile) travellers." FAIRBAIRN translates, "Were thy walls." But the parallelism to "thou wast glorious" favors English Version, "sing of thee."
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 25. Ships of Tarshish — See note Eze_27:12.
25. Ships of Tarshish — See note Eze_27:12.
Did sing of thee — Several versions have “served thee.” R.V., “were thy caravans.”
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Glorious — LXX., heavy. The ship Tyre was laden to the water’s edge with treasure.
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 25. The “ships of Tarshish” here are deep-sea ships,…
25. The “ships of Tarshish” here are deep-sea ships, great ships trading to the most distant coasts, Isa_2:16; Psa_48:7.
did sing of thee] For this Ges. suggested “were thy caravans” from a verb signifying to travel (Isa_57:9). The camel has been called the ship of the desert, but conversely to call an east indiaman a caravan is too brilliant for the prophet. Probably by a slight change of reading: the ships of Tarshish did serve thee with (in) thy wares (Eze_27:13; Eze_27:17 &c.), cf. Isa_60:9-10, and above Eze_27:9. So Aquila (Field).
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made very glorious] Rather: and wast heavily laden. The figure of a mistress served by all nations, who bring wares and riches to her from all lands, passes here again into the idea of the vessel deeply laden with cargo, and therefore more easily shipwrecked and broken in dangerous waters.
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 (25) Ships of Tarshish means simply, ships of the…
(25) Ships of Tarshish means simply, ships of the largest size, such as were fitted for the voyage to Tarshish: as we now say, “East Indiaman.” (Comp. 1Ki_22:48; Psa_48:7.) “Did sing of thee in thy market” is, literally, thy—, thy trade, the blank being an uncertain word, supposed by our translators to mean singers. Opinion is now divided as to whether the meaning is bulwarks or caravans; either gives a good sense. “Thy great ships were at once thy defence and the means of thy commerce,” or “were thy caravans of the sea, &c.” The former is preferable.
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 The verse beaus a new section, and glides back…
The verse beaus a new section, and glides back into the original metaphor of the ship, as in Vers. 4-9. The ships of Tarshish are used generically for merchant-ships. The catalogue of the commerce ends with Ver. 24, and the more poetic imagery reappears. It was, as centering in herself all that they brought to her that the merchant-city was very glorious in the midst of the waters. For sing of thee, read, the ships of Tarshish were thy caravans (Revised Version). The word has also the sense of "wall," as in Jer_5:10 and Job_24:11; and this, describing the ships as the "wooden wails" of Tyre, gives a tenable sense here.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.