What Does Ezekiel 27:15 Mean in the King James?
The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The riches in your hand are a map of how far your reach depends on other hands.
THE MEANING
A powerful center receives what distant places send, so its abundance is part of a web of exchange. What appears to belong to one hand has passed through many others first.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that abundance is self-made or self-sustaining: what one hand holds depends on a wider network of people and places.
THE ROOT
סְחֹרַת
səḥōraṯ
GROWS FROM
סחר
To go about; by extension, to trade or circulate goods.
The root carries a sense of movement around, as well as trade. English can make merchandise sound like a static pile, but the Hebrew keeps the circuit in view: many islands’ goods pass through the hand that receives them.
ALSO GROWS
sōḥēr: Merchant; trader.
סֹחֵר
The merchant is part of the movement that brings goods from distant places into this exchange.
səḥōrāh: Merchandise; trade.
סְחֹרָה
The related word keeps both the goods and their circulation in view, showing that this abundance depends on an ongoing network.
THE PATTERN
A center’s abundance moves through trade: distant goods gather in one place, yet remain dependent on an exchange that can also stop.
She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:THE THREAD
And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.Isaiah uses the same Hebrew trade-root, סחר (sachar), for merchandise. It shows the goods in this verse reaching an endpoint: they may be stored as wealth, or they may become food and durable clothing.
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