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Read the Bible

JPS Old Testament

Ezekiel 27:4

Thy borders are in the heart of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Phoenicia, Phenicia, or Phenice;   Ship;   Tyre or Tyrus;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Phoenicia;   Ship;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Perfect, Perfection;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Regeneration;   Repentance;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Phenicia;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Cyprus;   Ezekiel;   Poetry;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Ship;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Tyre;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Builders;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Heart;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Crafts;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Tyre;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Your realm was in the heart of the sea;your builders perfected your beauty.
Hebrew Names Version
Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty.
King James Version
Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
English Standard Version
Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty.
New American Standard Bible
"Your borders are in the heart of the seas; Your builders have perfected your beauty.
New Century Version
You were at home on the high seas. Your builders made your beauty perfect.
Amplified Bible
"Your borders are in the heart of the seas; Your builders have perfected your beauty.
World English Bible
Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Thy borders are in the middes of the sea, and thy builders haue made thee of perfit beauty.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Your borders are in the heart of the seas; Your builders have perfected your beauty.
Legacy Standard Bible
Your borders are in the heart of the seas;Your builders have perfected your beauty.
Berean Standard Bible
Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders perfected your beauty.
Contemporary English Version
and your control of the sea. You are a ship built to perfection.
Complete Jewish Bible
Your borders are in the heart of the sea, your builders perfected your beauty.
Darby Translation
Thy borders are in the heart of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
Easy-to-Read Version
The Mediterranean Sea is the border around your city. Your builders made you perfectly beautiful, like the ships that sail from you.
George Lamsa Translation
Your borders are in the midst of the seas, your builders have perfected your beauty.
Good News Translation
Your home is the sea. Your builders made you like a beautiful ship;
Lexham English Bible
In the heart of the seas are your boundaries; your builders perfected your beauty.
Literal Translation
In the heart of the seas are your borders, your builders have perfected your beauty.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
thy borders are in the myddest of the see, and thy buylders haue made the maruelous goodly.
American Standard Version
Thy borders are in the heart of the seas; thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
Bible in Basic English
Your builders have made your outlines in the heart of the seas, they have made you completely beautiful.
King James Version (1611)
Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders haue perfected thy beautie.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thy borders are in the mids of the seas, thy buylders haue made perfite thy beautie.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
In the heart of the sea thy sons have put beauty upon thee for Beelim.
English Revised Version
Thy borders are in the heart of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and Y am set in the herte of the see. Thei that ben in thi coostis that bildiden thee, filliden thi fairnesse;
Update Bible Version
Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty.
Webster's Bible Translation
Thy borders [are] in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
New English Translation
Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty.
New King James Version
Your borders are in the midst of the seas. Your builders have perfected your beauty.
New Living Translation
You extended your boundaries into the sea. Your builders made your beauty perfect.
New Life Bible
Your home is on the sea. Your builders have made you perfect in beauty.
New Revised Standard
Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
In the heart of the seas, were thy bounds, - Thy builders perfected thy beauty:
Douay-Rheims Bible
And situate in the heart of the sea. Thy neighbours, that built thee, have perfected thy beauty:
Revised Standard Version
Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty.
Young's Literal Translation
In the heart of the seas [are] thy borders, Thy builders have perfected thy beauty.

Contextual Overview

1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying: 2 'And thou, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre, 3 and say unto Tyre, that dwelleth at the entry of the sea, that is the merchant of the peoples unto many isles: Thus saith the Lord GOD: thou, O Tyre, hast said: I am of perfect beauty. 4 Thy borders are in the heart of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. 5 Of cypress-trees from Senir have they fashioned all thy planks; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. 6 Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; thy deck have they made of ivory inlaid in larch, from the isles of the Kittites. 7 Of fine linen with richly woven work from Egypt was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thine awning. 8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers; thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee, they were thy pilots. 9 The elders of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to exchange thy merchandise. 10 Persia and Lud and Put were in thine army, thy men of war; they hanged the shield and helmet in thee, they set forth thy comeliness.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

midst: Heb. heart, Ezekiel 26:5

Reciprocal: Isaiah 23:2 - the isle Ezekiel 27:3 - O thou Ezekiel 27:11 - they have Ezekiel 27:25 - glorious Ezekiel 28:2 - in the midst Ezekiel 28:12 - Thou sealest Ezekiel 28:15 - perfect Ezekiel 32:19 - dost

Cross-References

Genesis 14:19
And he blessed him, and said: 'Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth;
Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her: 'Our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let thy seed possess the gate of those that hate them.'
Genesis 27:1
And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said unto him: 'My son'; and he said unto him: 'Here am I.'
Genesis 27:7
Bring me venison, and make me savoury food, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death.
Genesis 27:15
And Rebekah took the choicest garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son.
Genesis 27:20
And Isaac said unto his son: 'How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son?' And he said: 'Because the LORD thy God sent me good speed.'
Genesis 27:22
And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said: 'The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.'
Genesis 27:23
And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.
Genesis 27:25
And he said: 'Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee.' And he brought it near to him, and he did eat; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
Genesis 27:27
And he came near, and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said: See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, Fixed by the Lord himself, and which could never be removed. Tyre stood about half a mile from the continent, surrounded with the waters of the sea, till it was made a peninsula by Alexander:

thy builders have perfected thy beauty. The Sidonians were the first builders of the city, as Justin q says; who began and carried on the building of it to the utmost of their knowledge and skill; and which was afterwards perfected by other builders, who made it the most beautiful city in all those parts; unless this is to be understood of her shipbuilders, who brought the art of building ships in her to such a perfection, as made her famous throughout the world; since they are immediately spoken of without any other antecedent.

q Ex Trago, l. 18. c. 3.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 27:4. Thy builders have perfected thy beauty. — Under the allegory of a beautiful ship, the prophet, here and in the following verses, paints the glory of this ancient city. Horace describes the commonwealth of Rome by the same allegory, and is as minute in his description, Carm. lib. i. Od. xiv: -

O navis, referent in mare te novi

Fluctus? O quid agis? Fortiter occupa

Portum. Nonne video, ut

Nudum remigio latus,

Et malus celeri saucius Africo,

Antennaeque gemant? ac sine funibus

Vix durare carinae

Possint imperiosius

AEquor! non tibi sunt integra lintea;

Non Di, quos iterum pressa votes malo:

Quamvis Pontica pinus,

Sylvae filia nobilis,

Jactes et genus, et nomen inutile

Nil pictis timidus navita puppibus

Fidit. Tu, nisi, ventis

Debes ludibrium, cave.

Unhappy vessel, shall the waves again

Tumultuous bear thee to the faithless main?

What, would thy madness thus with storms to sport?

Cast firm your anchor in the friendly port.

Behold thy naked decks, the wounded mast,

And sail-yards groan beneath the southern blast.

Nor, without ropes, thy keel can longer brave

The rushing fury of the imperious wave:

Torn are thy sails; thy guardian gods are lost,

Whom you might call, in future tempests tost.

What, though majestic in your pride you stood,

A noble daughter of the Pontic wood,

You now may vainly boast an empty name,

Of birth conspicuous in the rolls of fame.

The mariner, when storms around him rise,

No longer on a painted stern relies.

Ah! yet take heed, lest these new tempests sweep,

In sportive rage, thy glories to the deep.

FRANCIS.


I give this as a striking parallel to many passages in this chapter.


 
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