Ezekiel 27:8
in Ezekiel 27The men of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen. Your men of skill, O Tyre, were there as your captains.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee, they were thy pilots.
KJV
The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
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This verse in Ezekiel 27
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Vers. 8, 9.) The inhabitants of Sidon and Arad were your sailors. Your wise men, Tyre, became your captains. The elders of Biblos and their wise men provided sailors for the service of your various goods. All the ships of the sea and their sailors were in the service of your commerce. LXX: Your princes dwelled in Sidon and the men of Arad were your sailors. Your wise men, Sora, who were in you, they were your captains.
This site's exposition
The men of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen
on Ezekiel 27:8-9
The crew is drawn the same way as the timber, Zidon and Arvad supplying mariners, Tyre's own wise men serving as pilots. Gill notes the specificity of each city's trade, mariners here, pilots there, calkers elsewhere, as evidence of a maritime economy organized by specialized skill.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners,.... Zidon was a city in Phoenicia, near to Tyre, and older than that, by whose inhabitants it was built; see the notes on Isa 23:2 and Arvad was an island in Phoenicia, to the south of Zidon, not far from Tyre. Mr. Maundrell (g) says it is about a league distant from the shore; and is now called by the Turks Ruad.
Arvad - Or Aradus, an island belonging to Phoenicia, twenty furlongs from the continent. Mariners - Rowers in thy galleys; the rich Tyrians would not employ their own in such servile works, they hired strangers. Wise men - Thy learned men: for navigation was the great study of the Tyrians.
The inhabitants of Arvad and Zidon were thy mariners. These came from cities hear them; Zidon was sister to Tyre, not two leagues off, to the northward; there they bred able seamen, which it is the interest of the maritime powers to support and give all the countenance they can to.
), 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 Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Arvad--a small island and city near Phœnicia, now Ruad: its inhabitants are still noted for seafaring habits. thy wise men, O Tyrus . . . thy pilots--While the men of Arvad, once thy equals (Ge 10:18), and the Sidonians, once thy superiors, were employed by thee in subordinate positions as "mariners," thou madest thine own skilled men alone to be commanders and pilots.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-curly-quotes
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Zidon and Arvad - Or Arad. Two powerful cities on the Phoenician coast, in the neighborhood of Tyre, from which Tyre had her sailors; and the best instructed of her own inhabitants were her pilots or steersmen.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Arvad - See Gen 10:18. An island off the coast of Sidon, now called Ruad.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יֹשְׁבֵ֤י | yoshevei | [the] inhabitants of | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| צִידוֹן֙ | tzidon | Sidon | H6721 → | 22 times |
| וְאַרְוַ֔ד | vearvad | and Arvad | H719 → | |
| הָי֥וּ | hayu | they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| שָׁטִ֖ים | shatim | rowers | H7751 → | |
| לָ֑ךְ | lakh | of you | ||
| חֲכָמַ֤יִךְ | chakhamayikh | skillful [people] your | H2450 → | 138 times |
| צוֹר֙ | tzor | O Tyre | H6865 → | 42 times |
| הָ֣יוּ | hayu | they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| בָ֔ךְ | vakh | in you | ||
| הֵ֖מָּה | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| חֹבְלָֽיִךְ׃ | choelayikh | [were] sailors your | H2259 → | 5 times |
יֹשְׁבֵ֤י[the] inhabitants of
yosheveiH3427 →1079 times
צִידוֹן֙Sidon
tzidonH6721 →22 times
וְאַרְוַ֔דand Arvad
vearvadH719 →
הָי֥וּthey were
hayuH1961 →3559 times
שָׁטִ֖יםrowers
shatimH7751 →
לָ֑ךְof you
lakh
חֲכָמַ֤יִךְskillful [people] your
chakhamayikhH2450 →138 times
צוֹר֙O Tyre
tzorH6865 →42 times
הָ֣יוּthey were
hayuH1961 →3559 times
בָ֔ךְin you
vakh
הֵ֖מָּהthey
hemahH1992 →553 times
חֹבְלָֽיִךְ׃[were] sailors your
choelayikhH2259 →5 times
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
Joshua 11:8and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh.…
it leads to
- Joshua 13:6
All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim—all the Sidonians—I Myself will drive out before the Israelites. Be sure to divide it by lot as an inheritance to Israel, as I…
- Joshua 13:6
Through
Genesis 10:15And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
it leads to
- Numbers 34:2–15
“Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these boundaries:
- Exodus 34:11
Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Genesis 15:18–21
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
- 1 Chronicles 1:13
And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
- Genesis 23:3
Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites,
- Numbers 34:2–15
Through
1 Kings 9:27And Hiram sent his servants, men who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 10:11
(The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir also brought from Ophir a great cargo of almug wood and precious stones.
- 1 Kings 5:9
My servants will haul the logs from Lebanon to the Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate the logs, and you can…
- 1 Kings 10:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ezekiel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.