What Does Ezekiel 27:11 Mean?
The men of Arvad with your army were upon your walls all around, and the Gammadims were in your towers; they hung their shields on your walls all around; they finished your beauty.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
Here, the shields and armed perimeter are part of what completes the city’s beauty.
THE MEANING
The city’s walls and towers are lined with armed men, and shields hang where they can be seen. Its protection contributes to its visible splendor, so beauty here includes the force that guards it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that beauty and defense belong to separate worlds: here, the shields are part of the city’s beauty.
THE ROOT
יָפְיֵךְ
yofyēkh
GROWS FROM
יפה
y-p-h
To be beautiful or fair.
The Hebrew word yofyēkh means “your beauty,” from the same root as “beautiful” and “beauty.” In this verse, beauty is not detached decoration: the armed men, towers, and displayed shields become part of the city’s visible form.
ALSO GROWS
yafeh: Beautiful, fair.
יָפֶה
This adjective shares the seed of the city’s beauty and makes the root’s connection between being beautiful and beauty itself visible.
yofi: Beauty.
יֹפִי
This noun names the quality attributed to the city, gathering its defenses and adornment into one visible splendor.
THE PATTERN
Displayed protection can become part of visible beauty, with shields serving as adornment as well as defense.
Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory, upon which hang a thousand shields, all the shields of the mighty.And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three pounds of gold went up on one shield, and the king set them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.THE THREAD
And your name went out among the nations for your beauty, for it was complete through my splendor, which I had set upon you, says the Lord LORD.Both verses use יָפְיֵךְ (yofyēkh), “your beauty,” from the root יפה (y-p-h), “to be beautiful.” In Ezekiel 27:11, displayed defenses complete the city’s beauty; here, beauty is complete through what is placed upon the speaker.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us