Ezekiel 27:11
in Ezekiel 27Men of Arvad and Helech manned your walls all around, and the men of Gammad were in your towers. They hung their shields around your walls; they perfected your beauty.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and valorous men were in thy towers; they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have perfected thy beauty.
KJV
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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This verse in Ezekiel 27
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 11.) The sons of Aradius with their army (or their own) were on your walls all around. But also the Pygmies who were in your towers hung their quivers (or your quivers) on your walls in a circle, they completed your beauty. LXX: The sons of Aradius, and your strength on your walls, were guardians all around in your towers. They hung their quivers on your battlements in a circle.
This site's exposition
Men of Persia, Lydia, and Put
on Ezekiel 27:10-11
Military glory joins commercial glory: Persia, Lud and Phut supply soldiers who hang shield and helmet in thee, decorative arms. Fairbairn reads the militarized decoration as part of the chapter's larger point, that Tyre had turned every resource into an expression of wealth and beauty.
This site's exposition
the men of Gammad were in your towers
Helech is often identified with Cilicia in southern Asia Minor, called Hilakku in Assyrian records. The men of Gammad appear nowhere else, and their home is uncertain. Hired troops from many lands manned Tyre's walls.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
), which is designed to make its ruin the more lamentable. A prediction of its fall and ruin, and the confusion and consternation which all its neighbours shall thereby be put into,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The men of Arvad, with thine army were upon thy walls round about,....
Some nations they dealt with in one commodity and some in another, according as either its products or its manufactures were, and the fruits of nature or art were, with which it was blessed. This is very much enlarged upon here, as that which was the principal glory of Tyre, and which supported all the rest.
The Tyrians were themselves wholly given to trade; but it was necessary that they should have a good army on foot, and therefore they took those of other states into their pay, such as were fittest for service, though they had them from afar (which perhaps was their policy), from Persia, Lud, and Phut.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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 told that this little people were celebrated for their wars with the cranes; but nothing of this kind can enter into this description.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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 (Jud 3:16), "short-swordsmen."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-curly-quotes
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Persians, Ludim, and Putim were in your army, your men of war; shields and helmets they hung in you, they increased your splendor.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּנֵ֧י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אַרְוַ֣ד | ʾarvad | Arvad | H719 → | |
| וְחֵילֵ֗ךְ | vecheilekh | and Helech | H2428 → | 246 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [were] on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| חוֹמוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ | chomotayikh | walls your | H2346 → | 133 times |
| סָבִ֔יב | saviv | all around | H5439 → | 336 times |
| וְגַ֨מָּדִ֔ים | vegamadim | and [the] Gammadites | H1575 → | |
| בְּמִגְדְּלוֹתַ֖יִךְ | bemigdelotayikh | in towers your | H4026 → | 48 times |
| הָי֑וּ | hayu | they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| שִׁלְטֵיהֶ֞ם | shilteihem | shields their | H7982 → | |
| תִּלּ֤וּ | tilu | they hung up | H8518 → | 27 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| חוֹמוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ | chomotayikh | walls your | H2346 → | 133 times |
| סָבִ֔יב | saviv | all around | H5439 → | 336 times |
| הֵ֖מָּה | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| כָּלְל֥וּ | kalu | they perfected | H3634 → | |
| יָפְיֵֽךְ׃ | yafeyekh | beauty your | H3308 → | 19 times |
בְּנֵ֧י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
אַרְוַ֣דArvad
ʾarvadH719 →
וְחֵילֵ֗ךְand Helech
vecheilekhH2428 →246 times
עַל־[were] on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
חוֹמוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙walls your
chomotayikhH2346 →133 times
סָבִ֔יבall around
savivH5439 →336 times
וְגַ֨מָּדִ֔יםand [the] Gammadites
vegamadimH1575 →
בְּמִגְדְּלוֹתַ֖יִךְin towers your
bemigdelotayikhH4026 →48 times
הָי֑וּthey were
hayuH1961 →3559 times
שִׁלְטֵיהֶ֞םshields their
shilteihemH7982 →
תִּלּ֤וּthey hung up
tiluH8518 →27 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
חוֹמוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙walls your
chomotayikhH2346 →133 times
סָבִ֔יבall around
savivH5439 →336 times
הֵ֖מָּהthey
hemahH1992 →553 times
כָּלְל֥וּthey perfected
kaluH3634 →
יָפְיֵֽךְ׃beauty your
yafeyekhH3308 →19 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel and Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.