Ezekiel 28:7
in Ezekiel 28behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and will defile your splendor.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
KJV
Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
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This verse in Ezekiel 28
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
you regard your heart as the heart of a god
on Ezekiel 28:6-10
The sentence matches the crime clause for clause: strangers will draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom. The pit and the deaths of the uncircumcised name the shame, burial without the covenant sign. The strangers are Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon (26:7) and, in the older commentators' reading, Alexander after him.
This site's exposition
the most ruthless of nations
The same title names Nebuchadnezzar's army sent against Egypt in 30:11. The swords are drawn against the beauty of the king's wisdom, the very thing he trusted. His splendor, Hebrew yiphah, means radiance or brightness.
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 Awakening3 voices
), against all those things which thou gloriest in as thy beauty and the production of thy wisdom. Note, It is just with God that our enemies should make that their prey which we have made our pride. The king of Tyre's palace, his treasury, his city, his navy, his army, these he glories in as his brightness, these, he thinks, made him illustrious and glorious as a god on earth.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers upon thee,....
They are people of a strange language, which the king of Tyre himself, wise as he is, perhaps understands not. They are the terrible of the nations; it was an army made up of many nations, and it was at this time the most formidable both for strength and fury.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
therefore--apodosis. strangers . . . terrible of the nations--the Chaldean foreigners noted for their ferocity (Eze 30:11; 31:12). against the beauty of thy wisdom--that is, against thy beautiful possessions acquired by thy wisdom on which thou pridest thyself (Eze 28:3-5). defile thy brightness--obscure the brightness of thy kingdom.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I will bring strangers upon thee - The Chaldeans.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵ֗ן | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| הִנְנִ֨י | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| מֵבִ֤יא | mevi' | [am] about to bring | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ | ʾaleikha | on you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| זָרִ֔ים | zarim | strangers | H2114 → | 77 times |
| עָרִיצֵ֖י | ʾaritzei | ruthless [ones] of | H6184 → | 20 times |
| גּוֹיִ֑ם | goyim | nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| וְהֵרִ֤יקוּ | veheriku | and they will draw | H7324 → | 19 times |
| חַרְבוֹתָם֙ | charvotam | swords their | H2719 → | 413 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְפִ֣י | yefi | [the] beauty of | H3308 → | 19 times |
| חָכְמָתֶ֔ךָ | chakhematekha | wisdom your | H2451 → | 153 times |
| וְחִלְּל֖וּ | vechilelu | and they will profane | H2490 → | 143 times |
| יִפְעָתֶֽךָ׃ | yifatekha | splendor your | H3314 → |
לָכֵ֗ן<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
הִנְנִ֨יhere I
hiniH2005 →316 times
מֵבִ֤יא[am] about to bring
mevi'H935 →2568 times
עָלֶ֙יךָ֙on you
ʾaleikhaH5921 →5755 times
זָרִ֔יםstrangers
zarimH2114 →77 times
עָרִיצֵ֖יruthless [ones] of
ʾaritzeiH6184 →20 times
גּוֹיִ֑םnations
goyimH1471 →561 times
וְהֵרִ֤יקוּand they will draw
veherikuH7324 →19 times
חַרְבוֹתָם֙swords their
charvotamH2719 →413 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יְפִ֣י[the] beauty of
yefiH3308 →19 times
חָכְמָתֶ֔ךָwisdom your
chakhematekhaH2451 →153 times
וְחִלְּל֖וּand they will profane
vechileluH2490 →143 times
יִפְעָתֶֽךָ׃splendor your
yifatekhaH3314 →
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
Ezekiel 31:12Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 30:11
He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 35:8
I will fill its mountains with the slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines.
- Habakkuk 1:6
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
- Nahum 3:17–18
Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows…
- Ezekiel 30:11
Through
Ezekiel 32:12I will make your hordes fall by the swords of the mighty, the most ruthless of all nations. They will ravage the pride of Egypt and all her multitudes will be destroyed.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 29:19
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will carry off its wealth, seize its spoil, and remove its plunder. This…
- Ezekiel 31:11
I delivered it into the hand of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with it according to its wickedness. I have banished it.
- Ezekiel 29:19
Through
Ezekiel 30:11He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.
it leads to
- Zephaniah 1:17–18
I will bring such distress on mankind that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.
- Ezekiel 31:12
Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And…
- Zephaniah 1:17–18
Where this verse is studied
About Ezekiel

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; 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 (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.
