The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 552

27:11. The men of Arad were with thy army upon thy walls round about: the Pygmeans also that were in thy towers, hung up their quivers on thy walls round about: they perfected thy beauty.

Pygmeans... That is, strong and valiant men. In Hebrew, Gammadim.

27:12. The Carthaginians thy merchants supplied thy fairs with a mult.i.tude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead,

27:13. Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy merchants, they brought to thy people slaves and vessels of bra.s.s.

27:14. From the house of Thogorma they brought horses, and hors.e.m.e.n, and mules to thy market.

27:15. The men of Dedan were thy merchants: many islands were the traffic of thy hand, they exchanged for thy price teeth of ivory and ebony.

27:16. The Syrian was thy merchant: by reason of the mult.i.tude of thy works, they set forth precious stories, and purple, and broidered works, and fine linen, and silk, and chodchod in thy market.

Chodchod... It is the Hebrew name for some precious stone; but of what kind in particular interpreters are not agreed.

27:17. Juda and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants with the best corn: they set forth balm, and honey, and oil and rosin in thy fairs.

27:18. The men of Damascus were thy merchants in the mult.i.tude of thy works, the mult.i.tude of divers riches, in rich wine, in wool of the best colour.

27:19. Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have set forth in thy marts wrought iron: stacte, and calamus were in thy market.

27:20. The men of Dedan were thy merchants in tapestry for seats.

27:21. Arabia, and all the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of thy hand: thy merchants came to thee with lambs, and rams, and kids.

27:22. The sellers of Saba, and Reema, they were thy merchants: with all the best spices, and precious stones, and gold, which they set forth in thy market.

27:23. Haran, and Chene, and Eden were thy merchants; Saba, a.s.sur, and Chelmad sold to thee.

27:24. They were thy merchants in divers manners, with bales of blue cloth, and of embroidered work, and of precious riches, which were wrapped up and bound with cords: they had cedars also in thy merchandise.

27:25. The s.h.i.+ps of the sea, were thy chief in thy merchandise: and thou wast replenished, and glorified exceedingly in the heart of the sea.

27:26. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the south wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea.

27:27. Thy riches, and thy treasures, and thy manifold furniture, thy mariners, and thy pilots, who kept thy goods, and were chief over thy people: thy men of war also, that were in thee, with all thy mult.i.tude that is in the midst of thee: shall fall in the heart of the sea in the day of thy ruin.

27:28. Thy fleets shall be troubled at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.

27:29. And all that handled the oar shall come down from their s.h.i.+ps: the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea shall stand upon the land:

27:30. And they shall mourn over thee with a loud voice and shall cry bitterly: and they shall cast up dust upon their heads and shall be sprinkled with ashes.

27:31. And they shall shave themselves bald for thee, and shall be girded with haircloth: and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of soul, with most bitter weeping.

27:32. And they shall take up a mournful song for thee, and shall lament thee: What city is like Tyre, which is become silent in the midst of the sea?

27:33. Which by thy merchandise that went from thee by sea didst fill many people: which by the mult.i.tude of thy riches, and of thy people didst enrich the kings of the earth.

27:34. Now thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are in the bottom of the waters, and all the mult.i.tude that was in the midst of thee is fallen.

27:35. All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at thee: and all their kings being struck with the storm have changed their countenance.

27:36. The merchants of people have hissed at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.

Ezechiel Chapter 28

The king of Tyre, who affected to be like to G.o.d, shall fall under the like sentence with Lucifer. The judgment of Sidon. The restoration of Israel.

28:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

28:2. Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said: I am G.o.d, and I sit in the chair of G.o.d in the heart of the sea: whereas thou art a man, and not G.o.d: and hast set thy heart as if it were the heart of G.o.d.

28:3. Behold thou art wiser than Daniel: no secret is hid from thee.

Thou art wiser than Daniel... Viz., in thy own conceit. The wisdom of Daniel was so much celebrated in his days, that it became a proverb amongst the Chaldeans, when any one would express an extraordinary wisdom, to say he was as wise as Daniel.

28:4. In thy wisdom and thy understanding thou hast made thyself strong: and hast gotten gold an silver into thy treasures.

28:5. By the greatness of thy wisdom, and by thy traffic thou hast increased thy strength: and thy heart is lifted up with thy strength.

28:6. Therefore, thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Because thy heart is lifted up as the heart of G.o.d:

28:7. Therefore behold, I will bring upon thee strangers: the strongest of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy beauty.

28:8. They shall kill thee, and bring thee down: and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain in the heart of the sea.

28:9. Wilt thou yet say before them that slay thee: I am G.o.d; whereas thou art a man, and not G.o.d, in the hand of them that slay thee?

28:10. Thou shalt die the death of the uncirc.u.mcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord G.o.d.

28:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre:

28:12. And say to him: Thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Thou wast the seal of resemblance... The king of Tyre, by his dignity and his natural perfections, bore in himself a certain resemblance to G.o.d, by reason of which he might be called the seal of resemblance, etc.

But what is here said to him is commonly understood of Lucifer, the king over all the children of pride.

28:13. Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of G.o.d: every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold the work of thy beauty: and thy pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created.

28:14. Thou a cherub stretched out, and protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of G.o.d, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones of fire.

A cherub stretched out... That is, thy wings extended. This alludes to the figure of the cherubims in the sanctuary, which with stretched out wings covered the ark.-Ibid. The stones of fire... That is, bright and precious stones which sparkle like fire.

28:15. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee.

28:16. By the mult.i.tude of thy merchandise, thy inner parts were filled with iniquity, and thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the mountain of G.o.d, and destroyed thee, O covering cherub, out of the midst of the stones of fire.

28:17. And thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty: thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground: I have set thee before the face of kings, that they might behold thee.