Ezekiel 27:6
in Ezekiel 27Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; of wood from the coasts of Cyprus they made your deck, inlaid with ivory.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of Kittim.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Ezekiel 27
Commentary
5 notes on this verse(Vers. 6.) They have fashioned oars for your ship from the oak trees of Bashan: they have made your benches out of Indian ivory, and your decks out of the islands of Italy. LXX: They have made your oars and your temples out of the oak trees of Bashan, and they have made for you wild houses out of ivory from the islands of the Kittim.
This site's exposition
thy builders have perfected thy beauty
on Ezekiel 27:4-7
The chapter's long central section pictures Tyre itself as a magnificent ship, built from the resources of the whole known world: fir boards from Senir, cedar masts from Lebanon, oars from the oaks of Bashan, benches inlaid with ivory from the isles of Chittim. The sail is fine linen from Egypt, and the covering is blue and purple from the isles of Elishah, royal dye goods that mark the vessel as ceremonial as much as functional. Keil reads the ship figure as deliberate, a trading city pictured as its own finest export, assembled piece by piece from every nation it did business with.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
With box - From the isles, and parts about the Ionian, Aegean, and other seas of the Mediterranean, where box-tree is a native, and of great growth and firmness, fit to saw into boards for benches; they were conveyed to Tyre, where their artists inlaid these box boards with ivory, and made them beautiful seats in their ships.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Of the oaks of Bashan - Some translate alder, others the pine. The company of the Ashurites - The word אשרים asherim is by several translated boxwood. The seats or benches being made of this wood inlaid with ivory. Isles of Chittim - The Italian islands; the islands of Greece; Cyprus. Calmet says Macedonia is meant.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Rather, as the Hebrew orthography requires, "They have made thy (rowing) benches of ivory inlaid in the daughter of cedars" [MAURER], or, the best boxwood. FAIRBAIRN, with BOCHART, reads the Hebrew two words as one: "Thy plankwork (deck: instead of 'benches,' as the Hebrew is singular) they made ivory with boxes." English Version, with MAURER'S correction, is simpler.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַלּוֹנִים֙ | ʾalonim | oaks | H437 → | |
| מִבָּ֔שָׁן | mibashon | from Bashan | H1316 → | |
| עָשׂ֖וּ | ʾasu | they made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| מִשּׁוֹטָ֑יִךְ | mishotayikh | oars your | H4880 → | |
| קַרְשֵׁ֤ךְ | karshekh | boards your | H7175 → | |
| עָֽשׂוּ־ | ʾasu- | they made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| שֵׁן֙ | shen | ivory | H8127 → | 55 times |
| בַּת־ | bat- | inlaid in | H1323 → | 588 times |
| אֲשֻׁרִ֔ים | ʾashurim | pine | H839 → | |
| מֵאִיֵּ֖י | meiyei | from [the] islands of | H339 → | 36 times |
| כִּתִּיִּֽים׃ | kitiyim | Kittim | H3794 → |
אַלּוֹנִים֙oaks
ʾalonimH437 →
מִבָּ֔שָׁןfrom Bashan
mibashonH1316 →
עָשׂ֖וּthey made
ʾasuH6213 →2628 times
מִשּׁוֹטָ֑יִךְoars your
mishotayikhH4880 →
קַרְשֵׁ֤ךְboards your
karshekhH7175 →
עָֽשׂוּ־they made
ʾasu-H6213 →2628 times
שֵׁן֙ivory
shenH8127 →55 times
בַּת־inlaid in
bat-H1323 →588 times
אֲשֻׁרִ֔יםpine
ʾashurimH839 →
מֵאִיֵּ֖יfrom [the] islands of
meiyeiH339 →36 times
כִּתִּיִּֽים׃Kittim
kitiyimH3794 →
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
Genesis 10:4And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites.
it leads to
- Daniel 11:30
Ships of Kittim will come against him, and he will lose heart. Then he will turn back and rage against the holy covenant and do damage. So he will return and show favor to…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 24:24
Ships will come from the coasts of Cyprus; they will subdue Asshur and Eber, but they too will perish forever.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 23:12
He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus—even there you will find no rest.”
- Daniel 11:30
Through
Numbers 21:33Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
it leads to
- Joshua 13:12
the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had remained as a remnant of the Rephaim. Moses had struck them down and dispossessed them,
- Deuteronomy 29:7
When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.
- Deuteronomy 1:4
This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
- Joshua 13:12
Through
Zechariah 11:2Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!
it leads to
- Isaiah 10:33–34
Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 10:33–34
Through
Jeremiah 2:10Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look; send to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:
it leads to
- Psalms 120:5
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
- Psalms 120:5
About Ezekiel
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PlaceMediterraneanCyprusBarnabas's home island and the first stop of the first missionary journey, from Salamis to Paphos, where the proconsul Sergius Pau…
- PlaceEast of the Sea of Galilee, north of GileadBashanThe fertile tableland east of the Sea of Galilee, the kingdom of Og and the giant clans, taken by Israel before the Jordan crossin…
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.