Ezekiel 27:15
in Ezekiel 27The men of Dedan were your clients; many coastlands were your market; they paid you with ivory tusks and ebony.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The men of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hand: they brought thee in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.
KJV
The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
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This verse in Ezekiel 27
Commentary
5 notes on this verseon Ezekiel 27:15-16
(Vers. 15, 16.) Many islands have traded with your merchandise: they have exchanged ivory and ebony for your price. Your merchant, Syrus, because of the multitude of your works, has presented pearls, purple, embroidered garments, fine linen, silk, and scarlet in your market. LXX: They have multiplied your merchandise with islands: you were repaying your wages with elephant tusks and those who were being brought in. Your business has been purchased by many of your customers: They traded in aphec, stacten, and polymita from Tharsis and Ramoth and Chodchod in your market.
This site's exposition
Tarshish was thy merchant
on Ezekiel 27:12-15
The trade list opens with Tarshish, likely a distant western port, supplying silver, iron, tin and lead in bulk, and turns next to Javan, Tubal and Meshech, peoples of Asia Minor, who traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market, one of Scripture's plainest references to a trade in human beings run through Tyre's markets. Togarmah in the far north supplies horses and mules, and Dedan in the Arabian south supplies ivory and ebony, the list stretching from one edge of the known world to the other within four verses. Clarke reads the human trafficking named at verse 13 without any softening, the same matter-of-fact list format used for iron and ivory applied to men, letting the weight of it sit in the plainness of the accounting.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Isles - In the Indian seas, and in the Red-sea traded with thee. Horns - Elk's horns, or wild goats. Ebony - Is a very solid, heavy, shining, black wood, fit for many choice works.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The men of Dedan - Dedan was one of the descendants of Abraham by Keturah, and dwelt in Arabia, Gen 25:3. Ivory and ebony might come from that quarter. By way of distinction ivory is called both in Hebrew ש shen, and in Arabic shen, the Tooth, as that beautiful substance is the tooth of the elephant.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The Hebrew word for "ivory" means "tooth"; so that they cannot have mistaken ivory as if coming from the horns of certain animals, instead of from the tusks of the elephant.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּנֵ֤י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| דְדָן֙ | dedan | Dedan | H1719 → | 11 times |
| רֹֽכְלַ֔יִךְ | rokhelayikh | [were] traders your | H7402 → | 17 times |
| אִיִּ֥ים | ʾiyim | islands | H339 → | 36 times |
| רַבִּ֖ים | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
| סְחֹרַ֣ת | sechorat | [were] [the] merchandise of | H5506 → | |
| יָדֵ֑ךְ | yadekh | hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| קַרְנ֥וֹת | karnot | horns of | H7161 → | 76 times |
| שֵׁן֙ | shen | ivory | H8127 → | 55 times |
| וְהָבְנִ֔ים | vehovnim | and ebony | H1894 → | |
| הֵשִׁ֖יבוּ | heshivu | they brought | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֶשְׁכָּרֵֽךְ׃ | ʾeshkarekh | tribute your | H814 → |
בְּנֵ֤י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
דְדָן֙Dedan
dedanH1719 →11 times
רֹֽכְלַ֔יִךְ[were] traders your
rokhelayikhH7402 →17 times
אִיִּ֥יםislands
ʾiyimH339 →36 times
רַבִּ֖יםmany
rabimH7227 →454 times
סְחֹרַ֣ת[were] [the] merchandise of
sechoratH5506 →
יָדֵ֑ךְhand your
yadekhH3027 →1618 times
קַרְנ֥וֹתhorns of
karnotH7161 →76 times
שֵׁן֙ivory
shenH8127 →55 times
וְהָבְנִ֔יםand ebony
vehovnimH1894 →
הֵשִׁ֖יבוּthey brought
heshivuH7725 →1056 times
אֶשְׁכָּרֵֽךְ׃tribute your
ʾeshkarekhH814 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Kings 10:22For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
it leads to
- Psalms 72:10
May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 22:48
Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
- 2 Chronicles 20:36–37
They agreed to make ships to go to Tarshish, and these were built in Ezion-geber.
- Psalms 72:10
Through
Revelation 18:12cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;
it leads to
- Revelation 17:4
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual…
- Revelation 17:4
Through
Jeremiah 25:23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair;
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:26
Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in…
- Jeremiah 49:32
Their camels will become plunder, and their large herds will be spoil. I will scatter to the wind in every direction those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them from all…
- Jeremiah 49:8
Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.
- Jeremiah 9:26
Through
Genesis 10:7The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
it leads to
- 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 27:22
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.