Ezekiel 28:5
in Ezekiel 28By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has grown proud because of it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches;—
KJV
By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
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This verse in Ezekiel 28
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
wiser than Daniel
on Ezekiel 28:3-5
The taunt names Daniel, a contemporary famous in Babylon for wisdom, and sets the prince's shrewdness beside him only to mock it. Verses 4 and 5 trace the same wisdom into commerce. Clarke and Gill note the play, wisdom that could price every cargo and still miscount its own soul.
This site's exposition
your heart has grown proud because of it
Moses warned Israel of this same pattern in Deuteronomy 8, where multiplied silver and gold lift the heart until it forgets the LORD. The king of Tyre walks the path Israel was told to avoid. Success fed the pride.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 28, Verse 1 onwards) 'The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas,' yet you are a man, and not a god, though you set your heart as the heart of a god. Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! There is no secret that is hidden from you.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Since pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, he must bell him of that destruction, of that fall, which was now hastening on as the just punishment of his presumption in setting up himself a rival with God. "Because thou hast pretended to be a god (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
By thy great wisdom - He attributed every thing to himself; he did not acknowledge a Divine providence. As he got all by himself, so he believed he could keep all by himself, and had no need of any foreign help.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּרֹ֧ב | bero | by [the] greatness of | H7230 → | 149 times |
| חָכְמָתְךָ֛ | chakhematekha | skill your | H2451 → | 153 times |
| בִּרְכֻלָּתְךָ֖ | birkhulatekha | by trading your | H7404 → | 4 times |
| הִרְבִּ֣יתָ | hirbita | you have increased | H7235 → | 227 times |
| חֵילֶ֑ךָ | cheilekha | wealth your | H2428 → | 246 times |
| וַיִּגְבַּ֥הּ | vaiyigbah | and it has been haughty | H1361 → | 34 times |
| לְבָבְךָ֖ | levavekha | heart your | H3824 → | 252 times |
| בְּחֵילֶֽךָ׃ ס | becheilekha | in wealth your | H2428 → | 246 times |
בְּרֹ֧בby [the] greatness of
beroH7230 →149 times
חָכְמָתְךָ֛skill your
chakhematekhaH2451 →153 times
בִּרְכֻלָּתְךָ֖by trading your
birkhulatekhaH7404 →4 times
הִרְבִּ֣יתָyou have increased
hirbitaH7235 →227 times
חֵילֶ֑ךָwealth your
cheilekhaH2428 →246 times
וַיִּגְבַּ֥הּand it has been haughty
vaiyigbahH1361 →34 times
לְבָבְךָ֖heart your
levavekhaH3824 →252 times
בְּחֵילֶֽךָ׃ סin wealth your
becheilekhaH2428 →246 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
Psalms 62:10Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 6:17
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us…
- Psalms 52:7
“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”
- Jeremiah 17:11
Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will…
- Isaiah 61:8
For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity; in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.
- Job 31:24–25
If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
- 1 Timothy 6:17
Through
Ezekiel 28:2“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 28:9
Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4
He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
- Ezekiel 28:9
Through
Psalms 52:7“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Jeremiah 17:5
Where this verse is studied
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.