What Does Ezekiel 27:3 Mean in the King James?
And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
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
Tyre’s claim to perfect beauty grows from its place as the rock at the sea’s threshold, where trade among many peoples converges.
THE MEANING
Tyre stands at the sea’s entry and trades among many peoples; it names that position and abundance as complete beauty. The verse holds this self-description inside the LORD GOD’s address, so the city’s claim remains answerable to a word beyond itself. Its splendor and commerce are part of its portrait, but they do not determine its wholeness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse unsettles the belief that visibility, access, and wealth make a city whole in itself: Tyre’s boast is spoken under the LORD GOD’s word, not as the final measure.
THE ROOT
כְּלִילַת
kelilat
GROWS FROM
כ־ל־ל
k-l-l
To complete or make whole; fullness and totality.
“perfect” in this verse is kelilat. The Hebrew makes Tyre’s boast a claim to completeness of beauty, not only an impressive appearance. The city presents itself as lacking nothing, as though its splendor adds up to wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
kalil: Whole, entire, complete.
כָּלִיל
This related form carries the same sense of totality that shapes Tyre’s self-description.
kalal: To complete, make whole.
כָּלַל
The verbal form sharpens the claim: Tyre describes its beauty as complete, with nothing left outside it.
צֹר
Tsor
GROWS FROM
צ־ו־ר
ts-w-r
Rock or crag; the place-name Tyre is traditionally associated with rock.
“Tyrus” in this verse is Tsor. The city’s name carries the image of rock, while the verse places it at the sea’s entrance. The juxtaposition makes its claim to completeness feel rooted in a fixed place through which the trade of many peoples passes.
ALSO GROWS
tsur: Rock, crag.
צוּר
This common noun shares the sound and sense associated with the city’s name.
Tsor: Tyre, a place-name associated with rock.
צֹר
The name itself gives the city a rock-like identity beside the moving sea and its traffic.
רֹכֶלֶת
rokhelet
GROWS FROM
ר־כ־ל
r-k-l
To trade or peddle, carrying goods from place to place.
“merchant” in this verse is rokhelet. The Hebrew keeps the movement of peddling audible: Tyre is defined by circulation among peoples, not only by its location. A related form names a tale-bearer, echoing the carrying of things from one person or place to another.
ALSO GROWS
rokhel: Merchant, trader.
רֹכֵל
This is the masculine form of the trader named in the verse.
rakhil: Tale-bearer, one who circulates reports.
רָכִיל
This related form carries the same image of circulation, here through speech rather than goods.
THE PATTERN
A city’s claim that its splendor makes it complete is measured against a word beyond its own self-description.
Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.THE THREAD
Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.The king of Tyre is described as “perfect in beauty,” echoing the same completion language in Tyre’s boast here. The shared wording turns the city’s self-description into a portrait also claimed by its ruler.
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