A description of the glory and riches of Tyre: and of her irrecoverable fall.
The prophet lamenteth the ruine of Tyre: 3. describing her former glories 10. and traffike in al sortes of rich marchandise, with sundrie nations. 26. Al which shal be ouerthrowne by the Chaldees.
1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:Il Signore parlommi, dicendo:AND the word of our Lord was made to me, saying:Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens: 2Thou therefore, O son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre:Or tu figliuolo dell'uomo intuona lugubre cantico sopra di Tiro;Thou therfore ô sonne of man, take vp a lamentation vpon Tyre:Tu ergo, fili hominis, assume super Tyrum lamentum: 3And say to Tyre that dwelleth at the entry of the sea, being the mart of the people for many islands: Thus saith the Lord God: O Tyre, thou hast said: I am of perfect beauty,E dirai a Tiro, la quale abita alla bocca del mare, al fondaco de' popoli di molte isole: Queste cose dice il Signore Dio: Tu, o Tiro, dicesti: Io son perfettamente bella,And thou shalt say to Tyre, which dwelleth in the entrance of the sea, being the traffike of peoples to manie ilands: Thus saith our Lord God: ô Tyre, thou hast said: I am of perfect beautie, and situated in the hart of the sea.et dices Tyro, quæ habitat in introitu maris, negotiationi populorum ad insulas multas: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: / O Tyre, tu dixisti: Perfecti decoris ego sum, 4And situate in the heart of the sea. Thy neighbours, that built thee, have perfected thy beauty:E son situata nel cuor del mare. I tuoi vicini, che ti edificarono, ti ornarono di ogni vaghezza;Thy borderers, which builded thee haue accomplished thy beautie:et in corde maris sita. / Finitimi tui qui te ædificaverunt, impleverunt decorem tuum: 5With fir trees of Sanir they have built thee with all sea planks: they have taken cedars from Libanus to make thee masts.Ti fabbricarono di abeti del Sanir i due palchi della nave; tolsero un cedro dal Libano per fare il tuo albero.with the firretrees of Sanit they builded thee, with al the bordes of the sea: they tooke the cedar from Libanus, to make thee a mast.abietibus de Sanir exstruxerunt te cum omnibus tabulatis maris: / cedrum de Libano tulerunt ut facerent tibi malum. 6They have cut thy oars out of the oaks of Basan: and they have made thee benches of Indian ivory and cabins with things brought from the islands of Italy.Piallarono le querce di Basan per formare i tuoi remi, e i sedili tuoi li fecer di avorio indiano, e le tue magnifiche camere ornate di materia tolta dalle isole d'Italia.Okes of Basan they haue hewed for thine ores: and thy bankes they haue made thee of the iuorie of India, and litle cabbins of the ilands of Italie.Quercus de Basan dolaverunt in remos tuos, / et transtra tua fecerunt tibi ex ebore indico, / et prætoriola de insulis Italiæ.
7Fine broidered linen from Egypt was woven for thy sail, to be spread on thy mast: blue and purple from the islands of Elisa, were made thy covering.Il bisso d'Egitto a varj colori fu tessuto per far la tua vela appesa all'albero, il giacinto, e la porpora delle isole di Elisa facevano il tuo padiglione.Various silke of Aegypt was wouen for thy saile, to be put on the mast: hyacinth, and purple out of the ilands of Elisa, were made thy couering.Byssus varia de Ægypto texta est tibi in velum / ut poneretur in malo: / hyacinthus et purpura de insulis Elisa / facta sunt operimentum tuum. 8The inhabitants of Sidon, and the Arabians were thy rowers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were thy pilots.Gli abitatori di Sidone, e di Arad furono tuoi remiganti: i tuoi sapienti, o Tiro, furono i tuoi piloti.The inhabitants of Sidon, and the Aradians were thy rowers: thy wise men, ô Tyre, were made thy gouernors.Habitatores Sidonis et Aradii fuerunt remiges tui: / sapientes tui, Tyre, facti sunt gubernatores tui. 9The ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof furnished mariners for the service of thy various furniture: all the ships of the sea, and their mariners were thy factors.I vecchi di Gebal, e i più intelligenti di essa ebbero maestranze occupate alle varie bisogne di tua marineria: tutte le navi del mare, e tutti i lor marinari erano tuo popolo servendo alla tua mercatura.The ancients of Gebal, and wisemen therof had mariners to the seruice of thy diuerse stuffe: al the shippes of the sea, and their mariners haue bene in the people of thy traffike.Senes Giblii et prudentes ejus / habuerunt nautas ad ministerium variæ supellectilis tuæ: / omnes naves maris, et nautæ earum, / fuerunt in populo negotiationis tuæ. 10The Persians, and Lydians, and the Libyans were thy soldiers in thy army: they hung up the buckler and the helmet in thee for thy ornament.Tu avevi nel tuo esercito uomini bellicosi di Persia, di Lidia, e di Libia: appeso lo scudo, e il cimiero servivano a te di ornamento.The Persians, and Lydians, and the Lybians were in thine armie thy men of warre: the buckler, and helmet they did hang in thee for thine ornament.Persæ, et Lydii, et Libyes erant in exercitu tuo / viri bellatores tui: / clypeum et galeam suspenderunt in te pro ornatu tuo. 11The 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.I figliuoli di Arad tralle tue schiere stavano sulle tue mura coronandole: ma i Pigmei, che stavano sulle tue torri, appendevano intorno alle tue mura i loro turcassi: ei ti facevano perfettamente bella.The children of Arad were with thine armie vpon thy walles round about: yea and the Pygmeians, that were in thy towers, hung vp their quiuers on thy walles round about: they accomplished thy beautie.Filii Aradii cum exercitu tuo erant super muros tuos in circuitu: / sed et Pigmæi qui erant in turribus tuis, / pharetras suas suspenderunt in muris tuis per gyrum: / ipsi compleverunt pulchritudinem tuam.
12The Carthaginians thy merchants supplied thy fairs with a multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead,I Cartaginesi tuoi corrispondenti, coll'abbondanza di tutte le ricche merci, coll'argento, ferro, stagno, e piombo empievano i tuoi mercati.They of Carthage thy merchants, for the multitude of al riches, with siluer, iron, tinne, and lead did they replenish thy marts.Carthaginenses negotiatores tui, / a multitudine cunctarum divitiarum, / argento, ferro, stanno, plumboque / repleverunt nundinas tuas. 13Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy merchants, they brought to thy people slaves and vessels of brass.La Grecia, Thubal, e Mosoch anch'essi negoziavano teco, portando al tuo popolo degli schiavi, e degli utensili di rame.Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy merchants: slaues, & vessels of brasse they brought to thy people.Græcia, Thubal, et Mosoch, ipsi institores tui: / mancipia, et vasa ærea advexerunt populo tuo. 14From the house of Thogorma they brought horses, and horsemen, and mules to thy market.Portavano da Togorma alla tua piazza cavalli, e cozzoni di cavalli, e muli.From the house of Thogorma they brought horses, & horsemen, and mules to thy market.De domo Thogorma, equos, et equites, et mulos / adduxerunt ad forum tuum. 15The men of Dedan were thy merchants: many islands were the traffic of thy hand, they exchanged for thy price teeth of ivory and ebony.I figliuoli di Dedan facevan commercio con te; tu davi le tue merci a molte isole: e ne tiravi in contraccambio denti d'avorio, e dell'ebano.The children of Dedan were thy merchants: manie ilands the traffike of thy hand, teeth of iuorie, and of Heben they exchanged for thy price.Filii Dedan negotiatores tui; / insulæ multæ, negotiatio manus tuæ: / dentes eburneos et hebeninos commutaverunt in pretio tuo. 16The Syrian was thy merchant: by reason of the multitude of thy works, they set forth precious stones, and purple, and broidered works, and fine linen, and silk, and chodchod in thy market.Il Siro trafficava con te, e per avere le tue molte manifatture esponeva su tuoi mercati gemme, e porpora, e telerie ricamate, e bisso, e seta, ed ogni sua preziosa merce.The Syrian was thy merchant for the multitude of thy workes, the precious stone, and purple, and branched workes, and fine linnen, and silke, and chodchod they did set forth in thy market.Syrus negotiator tuus propter multitudinem operum tuorum: / gemmam, et purpuram, et scutulata, / et byssum, et sericum, et chodchod / proposuerunt in mercatu tuo. 17Juda 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.Giuda, e la terra d'Israele venivano a far negozi con te, esponendo alle tue fiere il frumento migliore, il balsamo, il miele, e l'olio, e la resina.Iuda and the land of Israel they were thy merchants in the principal corne: balme, and honie, and oyle, and resine they did set forth in thy marts.Juda et terra Israël, ipsi institores tui in frumento primo: / balsamum, et mel, et oleum, et resinam / proposuerunt in nundinis tuis.
18The men of Damascus were thy merchants in the multitude of thy works, in the multitude of divers riches, in rich wine, in wool of the best colour.Il mercatante Damasceno contrattava con te, e per le molte tue manifatture ti dava molte, e varie ricchezze, vino pregiato, e lane di ottimo colore.The Damacene was thy merchant in the multitude of thy workes, in the multitude of diuers riches, in fatte wine, in woolles of the best colour.Damascenus negotiator tuus in multitudine operum tuorum, / in multitudine diversarum opum, / in vino pingui, in lanis coloris optimi. 19Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have set forth in thy marts wrought iron: stacte, and calamus were in thy market.Dan, e la Grecia, e Mosel portarono alle tue fiere il ferro lavorato, la mirra stillante, e la canna erano ne' tuoi fondachi.Dan, and Greece, & Mosel in thy marts haue set forth wrought yron: stacte, and calums were in thy merchandise.Dan, et Græcia, et Mosel, / in nundinis tuis proposuerunt ferrum fabrefactum: / stacte et calamus in negotiatione tua. 20The men of Dedan were thy merchants in tapestry for seats.Quegli di Dedan ti vendevano i tappeti da sedere.Dedan thy merchants in tapestrie for seates.Dedan institores tui in tapetibus ad sedendum. 21Arabia, and all the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of thy hand: thy merchants came to thee with lambs, and rams, and kids.L'Arabia, e tutti i principi di Cedar comperavano le tue merci: venivano a te con agnelli, arieti, e capri a far negozio con te.Arabia, and al the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of thy hand: with lambes, and rammes, and kiddes thy merchants came to thee.Arabia et universi principes Cedar, / ipsi negotiatores manus tuæ: / cum agnis, et arietibus, et hædis, / venerunt ad te negotiatores tui. 22The 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.I mercanti di Saba, e di Rema portavano a vendere alla tua piazza tutti gli aromati più squisiti, e pietre preziose, ed oro.The sellers of Saba, & Reema, they were thy merchants: with principal spices, and precious stone, and gold, which they did set forth in thy market.Venditores Saba et Reema, ipsi negotiatores tui: / cum universis primis aromatibus, et lapide pretioso, et auro, / quod proposuerunt in mercatu tuo. 23Haran, and Chene, and Eden were thy merchants; Saba, Assur, and Chelmad sold to thee.Haran, e Chene, ed Eden contrattavano teco: Saba, Assur, e Chelmad ti vendevano mercatanzie:Haran, and Chene, and Eden, thy merchants: Saba, Assur, and Chelmad thy sellers.Haran, et Chene, et Eden, negotiatores tui; / Saba, Assur, et Chelmad venditores tui.
24They 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.Eglino faceano teco commercio di varie cose, portandoti balle di giacinto, e di lavori di punto, e preziosi tesori legati, e serrati con corde: ei ti vendevano ancora del legname di cedro.They were thy merchants in diuers manner, with folded peeces of hyacinth, and of embrodered clothes, and of precious riches, which were wrapped vp, and bound with cordes: cedars also they had in thy merchandise.Ipsi negotiatores tui multifariam, / involucris hyacinthi, et polymitorum, / gazarumque pretiosarum, / quæ obvolutæ et astrictæ erant funibus: / cedros quoque habebant in negotiationibus tuis. 25The ships of the sea, were thy chief in thy merchandise: and thou wast replenished, and glorified exceedingly in the heart of the sea.Le tue navi hanno il primo luogo nella tua mercatura: e tu fosti piena, e glorificata altamente in mezzo ai mare.The shippes of the sea, thy chief in thy merchandise: and thou wast replenished, and glorified excedingly in the hart of the sea.Naves maris, principes tui in negotiatione tua: / et repleta es, et glorificata nimis in corde maris. 26Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the south wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea.I remiganti tuoi ti condussero in alto mare; il vento di mezzodì ti fracassò in mezzo alle acque.In manie waters haue thy rowers brought thee: the southwinde hath broken thee in the hart of the sea.In aquis multis adduxerunt te remiges tui: / ventus auster contrivit te in corde maris. 27Thy 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 multitude that is in the midst of thee: shall fall in the heart of the sea in the day of thy ruin.Le tue ricchezze, e i tuoi tesori, e il molto tuo carico, i tuoi marinari, e i tuoi piloti, che avean in custodia le cose tue, e reggevan tua gente, e gli uomini guerrieri, che avevi teco, e tutta la moltitudine, che era dentro di te, è precipitata nell'abisso del mare il giorno dì tua rovina.Thy riches, and thy treasures, and thy manifold furniture, thy mariners, and thy gouerners, which hold thy stuffe, and were chiefe ouer thy people: thy men of warre also, that were in thee with al thy multitude, that is in the middes of thee: shal fal in the hart of the sea in the day of thy ruine.Divitiæ tuæ, et thesauri tui, / et multiplex instrumentum tuum: / nautæ tui et gubernatores tui, / qui tenebant supellectilem tuam, / et populo tuo præerant: / viri quoque bellatores tui, qui erant in te, / cum universa multitudine tua quæ est in medio tui, / cadent in corde maris in die ruinæ tuæ:
28Thy fleets shall be troubled at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.Al rumor delle strida de' tuoi piloti si spaventerà la moltitudine delle altre navi;At the sound of the crie of thy gouernours shal the nauies be trubled.a sonitu clamoris gubernatorum tuorum conturbabuntur classes. 29And all that handled the oar shall come down from their ships: the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea shall stand upon the land:E tutti i remiganti scenderan dalle navi loro: i marinari, e tutti i piloti staran sulla terra:And al they that held ore shal goe downe out of their shippes: the mariners, and al the gouernours of the sea shal stand on the land:Et descendent de navibus suis omnes qui tenebant remum: / nautæ et universi gubernatores maris in terra stabunt. 30And 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.E urleranno con voce grande sopra di te, e daran gridi di dolore, e si getteran sulle teste la polvere, e si cuopriranno di cenere.and they shal bewaile vpon thee with a loude voice, and shal crie bitterly: and they shal cast dust vpon their heades, and shal be sprinkled with ashes.Et ejulabunt super te voce magna: / et clamabunt amare, / et superjacient pulverem capitibus suis, / et cinere conspergentur. 31And 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.E si raderanno a causa di te i capelli, e si vestiranno di cilizi; e te piangeranno nell'amarezza dell'animo con pianto amarissimo.And they shal shaue baldnes vpon thee, and shal be girded with heareclothes: and they shal weepe for thee in bitternes of soule with most bitter weeping.Et radent super te calvitium, / et accingentur ciliciis: / et plorabunt te in amaritudine animæ, ploratu amarissimo. 32And 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?E intuoneranno lugubre carme sopra di te, e ti piangeranno: Qual è la città, che sia come Tiro, e come lei, che muta si sta nel fondo del mare?And they shal take vp a mournful song vpon thee, and shal lament thee: What citie is as Tyre, which is become silēt in the middes of the sea? Which in the going forthEt assument super te carmen lugubre, / et plangent te: / Quæ est ut Tyrus, quæ obmutuit in medio maris ?
33Which by thy merchandise that went from thee by sea didst fill many people: which by the multitude of thy riches, and of thy people didst enrich the kings of the earth.Tu col tuo commercio marittimo arricchisti molte nazioni: coll'abbondanza delle ricchezze tue, e della tua gente tu facesti ricchi i re della terra.of thy merchandise from the sea didst fil manie peoples: in the multitude of thy riches, and of thy peoples hast inriched the kinges of the earth.Quæ in exitu negotiationum tuarum de mari / implesti populos multos: / in multitudine divitiarum tuarum, et populorum tuorum, / ditasti reges terræ. 34Now thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are in the bottom of the waters, and all the multitude that was in the midst of thee is fallen.Tu se' adesso messa in pezzi dal mare: le tue ricchezze sono in fondo alle acque, e tutta la gente, che avevi con te, e perita.Now thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are in the bottome of the waters, and al the multitude, that was in the middes of thee, are fallen.Nunc contrita es a mari: / in profundis aquarum opes tuæ, / et omnis multitudo tua quæ erat in medio tui, ceciderunt. 35All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at thee: and all their kings being struck with the storm have changed their countenance.Tutti gli abitatori delle isole sono attoniti del tuo caso: e i loro regi sbigottiti per tal tempesta, son cangiati di volto.Al the inhabitants of the ilands are astonied vpon thee: and al the kinges of the same being striken with tempest haue changed their lookes.Universi habitatores insularum obstupuerunt super te, / et reges earum omnes tempestate perculsi mutaverunt vultus. 36The merchants of people have hissed at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.I mercatanti degli altri popoli fecer delle fischiate sopra di te: tu se' ridotta al niente, e non sarai in perpetuo.The merchants of peoples haue hissed vpon thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt not be euen for euer.Negotiatores populorum sibilaverunt super te: / ad nihilum deducta es, / et non eris usque in perpetuum.
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Year of the World 3416, Year before Christ 588.
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Lamentation. Such canticles were usual, and very poetical.
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Entry, whence merchants may proceed from an excellent harbour to any place.
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Haydock
Septuagint, "thy children." Protestants, "thy builders." (Haydock)
Worthington
The description of the Tyrian grandeur, shews their more woeful ruin. (Worthington)
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Haydock
Thee. Hebrew, "all thy ship-boards." (Septuagint) (Protestants) (Haydock)
Haydock
St. Jerome has divided (Calmet) leuthim, "decks of the sea," as yam denotes the sea. (Haydock)
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Benches. Septuagint, "temples."
All distant places were styled islands, (Haydock) when they went by water to them.
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Linen. Cotton, (Exodus 25:4.) used for standards. Septuagint, "for bed coverlets," or for sails.
Mast. Cleopatra and Caligula were still more sumptuous in their sails.
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Aradians. Sidon and Arad were then subject to Tyre, and supplied rowers.
Pilots. They studied no other science.
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Gebal. Septuagint, "Biblos," which is the same, 3 Kings 5:18.
Furnished. Hebrew, "were in thee to repair thy breaches." Septuagint, "strengthened thy designs."
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Lybians. Hebrew, "Phut." They had been expelled by the Cyreneans. Tyre had in her pay the most warlike nations of Persia, etc. Cyrus soon after shook off the yoke of the Medes, and conquered the Lydians.
Calmet
Hung up, ver. 11. This was very usual, Canticle of Canticles 4:4., and Isaias 22:8. (Calmet)
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Challoner
The Pygmeans. That is, strong and valiant men. In Hebrew Gammadim. (Challoner)
He does not speak of those fabulous men hardly a cubit high. Gomed signifying a "cubit," has caused them to be styled so here. Septuagint, "guards;" or Symmachus, "Medes." Ezechiel (xxxviii. 6.) speaks of the Gomerim.
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Calmet
Slaves. Those from Greece were much esteemed. (Calmet)
Haydock
Alas! thirty thousand Tyrians were themselves thus sold by Alexander [the Great]! (Haydock)
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Horses. Those of Sarmatia (Calmet) were in high repute. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 8:42.
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Dedan. Septuagint, "Rhodians;" or rather Arabs are meant, ver. 20. They might receive ivory from Ethiopia.
Calmet
Teeth. Hebrew, "horns or tusks," which the elephant casts every year. The ivory is less brittle, 3 Kings 10:18. (Calmet)
Bochart
Ebony; a hard black wood, like horn. (Bochart)
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St. Jerome
Syrian: always much addicted to commerce. (St. Jerome)
Haydock
Septuagint read Adam for Aram, as if the traffic in men was meant: (Calmet) "ivory, and to those who brought, thou gavest thy rewards. (16) Men of thy traffic," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
Linen. Hebrew buts, "silk" extracted from the pinna fish, 1 Paralipomenon 15:27. Silk. Hebrew ramoth, may rather denote unicorns, Job 28:18. (Calmet)
Challoner
Chodchod. It is the Hebrew name for some precious stone, but of what kind in particular, interpreters are not agreed. (Challoner)
Worthington
Some say the carbuncle, etc. St. Jerome renders it the jasper, Isaias 54:12. (Worthington)
Calmet
Here he confesses he knows not the meaning. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Rosin. Our version generally renders this, balm. (Haydock)
It was much used to heal, Jeremias 8:22., and Genesis 37:25.
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Seats, such as the Turks still use, or to throw over horses instead of saddles.
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Cords, in boxes, which had then no locks.
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Calmet
Sea. Hebrew Tharsis, in Cilicia; or large, and fit for long voyages. Thine were the best. (Calmet)
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Haydock
South. Hebrew kodim, (Haydock) "eastern," or rather "burning," here means Nabuchodonosor, who came from the north, (chap. 26:7.; Calmet) or east. The fall of Tyre is described as a shipwreck. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Ashes. They followed the same customs as the Jews. (Calmet)
Worthington
The latter were ordered to avoid cutting the hair, like them; yet did so, Deuteronomy xiv., and Isaias 22:22. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Hissed, through pity and astonishment. (Calmet)
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Sea planks.... That is, timber brought by sea to build the city.
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Pygmeans.... That is, strong and valiant men. In Hebrew, Gammadim.
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Chodchod.... It is the Hebrew name for some precious stone; but of what kind in particular interpreters are not agreed.
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This large description of the Tyrians glory sheweth their greater ruine.
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S. Ierom in Isaie. 54. v. 12. translating this word a iasper stone, here leaueth it vntranslated, and so do also the Septuagint; neither do the Hebrew Doctors describe it in their commentaries. The Chaldee paraphrasis translateth it in general precious stones, or margarites: some in particular, thinke it to be a carbunkle, some a rubie, others a chrystal, others an adamant.
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VVith these Gentiles, cutting or shauing of their heare was a signe of sorovv, vvhich the Ievves vvere commanded not to imitate. Deut. 14. to shevv difference from other nations: yet they also did cut their heare in great calamities. Isa. 22. v. 12.
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Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 12
… On seeing him, Marcellus at first was struck with astonishment at the costume in which he presented himself. For he wore a kind of shoe which is usually called in common speech the quadrisole; he had also a party-coloured cloak, of a somewhat airy appearance; in his hand he grasped a very sturdy staff of ebony-wood;
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Tatian † AD 180 The Diatessaron 39
[34] And a great multitude, that which came to the feast, when they heard that Jesus [35] was coming to Jerusalem, took young palm branches,
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WHICH DWELLS AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE SEA.
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3. WHICH DWELLEST IN THE ENTRANCE OF THE SEA. — In Hebrew: Which dwelleth near the mouths, that is, the gates of the sea. For it was an island of many harbours, says Vatablus. IN MERCHANDISE. — Tyre, says St. Jerome, is called here merchandise, that is, the most celebrated emporium of merchandise, "of peoples to many islands," whose merchants namely were mighty and wealthy and princes. Secondly, Maldonatus and Vatablus say, "in merchandise," that is, a merchant woman, who trades with islands and peoples most remote. Perfect in beauty I am. — The first crime of Tyre, says St. Jerome, is pride, in that she does not think her beauty to be of God, but of her own industry and virtue. Secondly, in that she arrogates to herself perfect beauty, as if to say, I am the most beautiful of cities, I am the eye of the world, I am so beautiful that nothing can be added to me, which belongs to God alone, says Dionysius, cap. IV On the Divine Names.
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4. And in the heart of the sea situated,—in the midst of the sea, as if to say: Thou hast said proudly, O Tyre: I am the most fortified and most beautiful lady and queen of the sea, surrounded on all sides by the blue sea, and as if crowned, Isaiah XXIII, 8. For Tyre was of round form upon a most hard rock (whence also in Hebrew צר tsor, in Chaldee tor, in Latin Tyrus is said, as if to say: Rock, or stone) surrounded on all sides as it were by an immense sea, four stadia, that is 500 paces, that is half a mile distant from land. But Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards Alexander, filled up the sea on one side with earth, wood and stones, so that Tyre could be approached and assailed on foot, and thus from an island he made it a peninsula. So St. Jerome, Pliny lib. V, cap. XIX, and Curtius, lib. IV. See what I have said concerning the riches and glory of Tyre at Isaiah XXIII, the beginning of the chapter. Mystically, Tyre are the straits (for the Hebrew צר tsor, that is Tyre, signifies these) of this world, which is placed in evil, and is constrained and beaten by various disturbances, as if by waves, says St. Jerome. What therefore is said here of Tyre literally, apply mystically to the world. THY BORDERS, WHO BUILT THEE, HAVE FILLED UP THY BEAUTY.—Vatablus, have completed thy beauty, that is they have adorned thee with all ornaments, whatever was beautiful in the world they brought together in thee. It is certain, says Adricomius from Berosus in the Description of the Holy Land, that in Tyre, Tyre was named and founded shortly after the flood by Tyrius, who was the seventh of the sons of Japhet: afterwards it was increased by the Sidonians, as Justinus testifies, lib. XVIII. Whence St. Jerome calls Tyre a colony of the Sidonians. For thy borders in Hebrew is גבוליך gebulayich, that is thy borders, that is those dwelling in thy borders, that is thy neighboring inhabitants: namely the Sidonians, the Gebalites, etc. But Vatablus properly translates borders, says, and joins it with the preceding, and translates: In the midst of the sea are thy borders. So also the Septuagint translate in the Complutensian edition. But St. Jerome asserts that the Septuagint translated: The sons of Belim have surrounded thee and filled up thy beauty, and adds that they corruptly read Beelim for gebulayich; and בניך banaich, that is thy sons, for בניך bonaich, that is thy builders. But our Vilalpandus, following this chapter and the following Commentary of Father Prado, contends that this was done by them with purpose, the Holy Spirit suggesting it, so that they might signify that Tyre attributed her beauty not to God, but to the Baalim; or rather, that the sons, that is the citizens of Tyre, adorned her with proud temples, built to Baal and Astaroth. Whence the Septuagint in the Roman edition of Carafa thus have it: Thou hast said: I have surrounded myself with my beauty in the heart of the sea, the Beelim (or Baalim) thy sons have surrounded thee and filled up thy beauty. Baal was Saturn, to whom they sacrificed freeborn boys, says Q. Curtius lib. IV, as if to say: This adornment of thine, O Tyre, is not adornment, but rather infamous shame, and sacrilegious infanticide, nay parricide.
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5. FROM THE FIR TREES OF SANIR. — He speaks tropically, says St. Jerome, of maritime Tyre as if of a ship (for the glory of Tyre was in ships), with mast, sails, oars and everything most fully equipped, so as to signify the riches of the city, which, battered by the south wind, that is by the fury of Nebuchadnezzar, suffered shipwreck. Moreover Sanir, or Sarion, is the mountain Hermon, which is called Sanir, that is snowy, says the Chaldean, because it is always stiff with snows, and therefore is called Chermon, or Hermon, that is destroyed, cut down, barren, says Masius; or, as Villalpando holds, because it is divided from Lebanon by a valley, and is as it were cut off. Note: By these fir trees are signified the mighty, the magnates and governors of the city. WITH ALL THE BOARDS OF THE SEA. — For a ship has two boards, that is two rows of boards, as if to say, All the boards of your ships, that is of your houses, were of fir wood. Hence in Hebrew it is לחתים luchotaim, which is dual, as if to say, Two boards, namely two rows of boards: Our translator reads לחת ים luchot iam, that is boards or boards of the sea. MASTHEAD. — Some understand the temple of Jupiter Olympius, and others built in Tyre. 6. BENCHES — are called as it were laid crosswise: they are timbers which in a ship or house, placed crosswise, connect and bind the sides. The Septuagint translates, ier, that is temples: because, as Sextus Pompeius says, a temple is a crosswise timber on which the rowers sit. Benches therefore, says Caesar, are the seats of the rowers; these wooden ones the Tyrians covered and adorned superply with ivory cut into plates and carved. Some, says Theodoret, translate, your horn, that is your strength and your powers, namely your idols and your religion: which is the strength of the commonwealth; and from this perhaps the Septuagint translates, temples, namely of idols. From Indian ivory. — For, as Virgil says: India sends ivory, the soft Sabæans their frankincense: But the hard Chalybes iron, and the Pontus its beaver-skins. AND LITTLE PALACES. — A praetorium, in Suetonius in Caligula, is a magnificent chamber, or a suburban house. It signifies therefore here that the Tyrians built magnificent palaces, dining-rooms, chambers, both suburban and urban, with precious woods brought from Italy. Whence the Septuagint and Aquila translate, wooded houses. For a praetorium was properly called a magnificent and spacious house built in the field and countryside, into which buildings they poured immense sums of money. Hear Suetonius in Caligula, chapter XXXVII: "In the construction of praetoria and villas, with all consideration set aside, he desired nothing so much as to accomplish what was denied to be possible." The same in Augustus, chapter LXXII: "He was burdened by spacious and elaborate praetoria," that is, Augustus bore with displeasure certain villas constructed more elegantly and sumptuously. Palladius, book I: "Let the site of the praetorium itself be in a place somewhat more elevated and drier than the rest, on account of injury to the foundations, and so that it may enjoy a pleasant view." Because indeed praetors, as being military commanders, often dwelt in the fields, and there built splendid dwellings; hence any similar structures of others were called by the same name praetoria; and if they were smaller, praetoriola. Hence Ezekiel places these praetoriola, that is splendid chambers, in a ship: for he compares Tyre to a ship, as being maritime: therefore its palaces and narrow buildings he calls praetoriola. OF ITALY. — In Hebrew it is Cetim, which signifies not only Cyprus, but also Italy, as I have shown in Numbers XXIV, 24. The Chaldean translates, from the islands of Apulia, that is from Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, and other islands near Apulia and Italy.
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7. FINE LINEN WOVEN FROM EGYPT WAS MADE THY COVERING. — It signifies tapestries and other similar things which were accustomed to be brought to Tyre from Egypt, says Theodoret. Secondly, Villalpando: The ship, he says, is tyranny; the mast is the king; the ropes are princes and leaders, who sustain the king; the sails are drawn-up battle lines. But note that it is not necessary to apply each detail individually. For through all this precious ship's furnishings, it signifies the precious structures of the city, houses, citadels, temples, walls, and all the city's furnishings, riches and merchandise: and since Tyre's luxury was so great, it could easily have happened that in reality sails of fine linen and crossbeams of ivory were made in ships. Mystically, St. Jerome: By fine linen is signified earth, because it arises from earth; by hyacinth the air; by purple the sea, from which it is made; with scarlet twice dyed added, which represents fire by its redness, with which the vestments of the high priest are woven. These four therefore signify "the four elements, earth, air, water and fire, from which all things are composed, which Tyre assumes for itself, so that it does not use the Creator God with gratitude, but says: I am perfect in beauty; or, I have prepared beauty for myself." HYACINTH, — that is wool and hyacinthine cloth, that is of violet color, concerning which I have spoken in Exodus chapter XXV, 3. FROM THE ISLANDS OF ELISHAH, — that is Greece, says Theodoret, especially those which are in the Ionian sea, says St. Jerome. For Elishah was the son of Javan, from whom Greece was cultivated and named: for this is called Javan in Hebrew. Indeed, some think the Aeolians are named from Elishah. The Chaldean translator rendered Elishah as the islands of Italy; others as the Fortunate Islands, which are called Elysian on account of their pleasantness and fertility, especially of trees and golden apples, which ripen there frequently in the year. For although Tyre abounded in purple itself (and it was the best and most renowned, whence it is called Tyrian, and Sarranum purple), nevertheless that also was brought there from elsewhere, as to a common market, so that from there it might be distributed to all regions. Villalpando understands by the islands of Elishah the cities and islands of Spain near Cadiz and Xeres: for there Homer first placed the Elysian Fields, on account of the pleasantness and fertility of the place. Whence there is the river Lethe, commonly called Guadalete, which Virgil in the sixth book of the Aeneid and Strabo in book I place at the Elysian fields. Thus also Pineda in book IV On the Affairs of Solomon chapter XIV. THY COVERING, — with which thou didst cover and adorn both thyself, that is thy citizens by clothing them in these; and both thy houses, halls and chambers by spreading them with fine linen and purple hangings, seats, cushions, etc.
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8. The Aradians, — inhabitants of the island of Arados near Tyre, which was founded by Aradius, the ninth son of Canaan, Genesis X, 18. The Septuagint translates: Thy princes were Sidonians (who namely once ruled over thee, now) with the Aradians are thy rowers. Mystically, Aradians in Hebrew signify those who lay down, Sidonians hunters, concerning whom it is said in Psalm CXXIII: "Our soul hath been delivered as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers;" in Hebrew Sidonim, that is of the Sidonians. "These, therefore, are they who hunt unwary souls placed on high, so that they may lead them down to earthly things, and they may become rowers, so that they may lead them to shipwrecks," says St. Jerome.
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9. The Elders of Gebal,—Gobel, or Gebal (Psalm LXXXII, 8: "Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalec, with the inhabitants of Tyre") is Giblos, or Biblos, a city of Phoenicia, whence the inhabitants were called Giblii, or Biblii. The Septuagint translates Gebalii as πρεσβύτεροι βιβλίων, which their Interpreter ambiguously renders, elders of the Books; and the Scholiast wrongly, elders in books. For Biblia are not Biblia, nor books; but it is a people so called, which had noble carpenters in wood: whence the Giblii cut timber for Solomon in the building of the temple, III Kings V, 18. In Hebrew it is: The elders of Gebal and her wise men were in thee repairing thy breaches, namely that thy ship might not admit water; a ship, I say, both properly so called, because thou aboundest in ships in the sea, and metaphorically, namely thy city and commonwealth. Whence the Septuagint translates: The elders of Biblos, and her wise men that were in thee, strengthened thy counsel. Namely, good counsellors by their counsel preserve the commonwealth like a ship, safe from all storms in every danger and calamity, lest it spring a leak. ALL THE SHIPS OF THE SEA, AND THE MARINERS THEREOF WERE IN THE PEOPLE OF THY TRAFFIC.—From the Hebrew more clearly thus thou mayest translate: All the ships of the sea, and their rowers, were in thee, to traffic thy traffic; or to sell thy merchandise; the Septuagint: They were made unto thee in the West of the West. For in Hebrew ערב arab signifies to pledge, to contract, to traffic, and generally to mingle; hence it also signifies evening, or the West, when light and darkness mingle. St. Jerome and Theodoret thus explain it: Merchants came to thee from all places, even from the most remote western regions, namely from Spain, says Pineda in book IV On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter V. For Tartessus, a city of Spain near Gades, was a colony of the Tyrians; whence it had great commerce with them. Thus the Song of Songs is called the song supreme, that is, the most beautiful. The Chaldean translates: All those descending into the sea, and their mariners were rowers in thee, that is to say, So great was thy magnificence and glory, O Tyre, that thou didst enlist as rowers those who had been mariners of other nations, that is, ship-owners and governors of ships. Tropologically Vilalpandus: The merchant, he says, is called avarice evening, or the West; first, because he sells or buys his merchandise by frauds and lies; second, because like an evening wolf he covets the goods of the poor; third, on account of the blindness of mind, which the desire of gain brings; fourth, because this greed for gain with its followers leads him to the eternal darkness of hell. Thus St. Jerome.
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10. Persians and Lydians,—that is to say, All peoples served thee: base indeed in mechanical arts, as the Giblii, Aradii, Sidonii; but strong and warlike in war, as the Persians, Lydians and Africans: who in time of war were a protection to thee; in time of peace, however, with galleys and shields suspended, an ornament, says Maldonatus.
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11. BUT ALSO PYGMIES. — Pliny, book VII, chapter II, writes that the Pygmies are peoples in the farthest India, in a healthful climate and always flourishing, who do not exceed three-quarters of a cubit, or spans. He asserts the same thing with Aristotle, book VIII of the History of Animals, chapter XII, that they fight with cranes. Whence also Ovid in book VI of the Fasti: "Nor the bird that rejoices in pygmy blood," that is, the crane. But Juvenal at length, in satire 3, sings of them: "To the sudden birds of Thrace and the resounding cloud / The pygmy warrior runs in small arms. / Soon unequal to the foe, and snatched through the air by curved / Talons he is borne by the savage crane," etc. "No one laughs / Where the whole cohort is not taller than one foot." Wherefore St. Augustine, book XVI, chapter VIII, admits these Pygmies as it were monstrous men. Others add that they generate offspring in the fifth year of age and die in the eighth. But these things are proved to be fabulous, first, because the first author of the Pygmies is Homer the fabulous poet, in the Iliad γ; for from him Aristotle, Pliny, Augustine and others have their accounts. Whence Eustathius, writing on Homer, says that he amplifies the tumult of the Trojans through the comparison with cranes: but introduces the Pygmies, as a pleasant part of the fable, in his manner. Likewise from him, and from Suida, Aldrovandus teaches, book XX, chapter V. Second, because these authors disagree among themselves about the place. For the Scholiast of Homer places them in the middle of Egypt: Pliny now in Asia, now in India, now in Ethiopia. Aristotle, Ammianus, Philostratus in the caverns of the earth, as it were ants. Third, because that ὀρτυγομαχία, that is, the fight with cranes, as also their generation and other things like these, appear to be fabulous. Such is also this account of Menalcas in Athenaeus, book IX, chapter XIII, that there was a fight of partridges with Pygmies, when on the other hand Basil writes that Pygmies ride on partridges and thus go forth to war against cranes. Why not? In the time of the Emperor Theodosius, Nicephorus says, book XII, chapter XXXVII, a man of the size of a partridge was seen, certainly a Pygmy. Thus fable begets fable, and falsehood falsehood, as strawberry begets strawberry, but also equally destroys it: for fabulists and liars immediately contradict themselves. We see dwarfs of small stature in the courts of princes, and our Portuguese narrate that such are frequently born in Tartary: but these are monsters, and do not have offspring or propagation, so as to form a race. Whence Martial, book XIV, thus depicts a dwarf: "If you look only at the head of the man, you would believe it Hector: / If you see him standing, you would think him Astyanax." Fourth, what praise, I ask, would it be to Tyre to have little men, Pygmies, as defenders? Lyran responds that they were placed not for protection, but for mockery of the enemy: just as the Jebusites in Sion placed the blind and the lame, as if they themselves would defend Sion most strongly against David, II Kings V, 6. But what need to fetch Pygmies from so far for this? They could place infants and puppets for this, that is, masks, for example straw men, by which birds are driven away lest they pluck the wheat. And how would Ezekiel say of them: "They have filled up thy beauty"? Fifth, the Spanish and Portuguese, who have explored all the Indies, have seen no Pygmies. Again, from all the geographers who have carefully and diligently traversed the whole world, there is no one who writes or asserts that he has seen these Pygmies; therefore they do not exist. For they are not so small as to be invisible. You will say: Olaus Magnus, book II On the Peoples of the North, chapter XI, says that Pygmies still exist in the north. I respond: He only says that he heard from grave men that the inhabitants of Greenland fight with cranes, as Pliny asserts the Pygmies do. And so he does not directly assert that those inhabitants are Pygmies: for even the inhabitants of Germany fight with cranes, when they kill, capture and slay them with arrows, bombards, spears, who nevertheless are not Pygmies. Add: Olaus does not say that he saw this, but heard it. Finally, this author has many fabulous and incredible things, as when he relates that true griffins exist, which in front are eagles, in back lions, which dig out gold and from it construct nests: whence to plunder this gold, several thousand men go forth in battle array against them. All which things I have demonstrated to be false and fabulous in Leviticus XI, 13. Indeed, from the north on account of the cold, we see vast and tall men, and giants rather than pygmies, come forth. You will say secondly: In the history of St. Macarius the Roman in the Lives of the Fathers, it is said that St. Macarius, going toward paradise, found a people who had in height only one cubit, and he calls them Pichiti and Pygmies. I answer that that history is suspected of falsity by Baronius and other learned men. For in the same narrative it is told that St. Macarius came near to the terrestrial paradise, which is situated, he says, "where heaven is joined to earth:" and before it Cherubim keep watch, "which from the feet up to the navel has the likeness of a man, the breast like a lion, the hand like crystal," etc., which things smack of fables. Add that, for Pichiti, a manuscript codex reads Pytici; whence Pytheci, whence cercopitheci (as Fr. Herbertus noted), which is a species of apes. They were apes therefore, not men. Sixthly, because in Hebrew it is gammadim, which the Chaldean translator rendered Cappadocians; the Septuagint, guardians; Theodotion retains the Hebrew, gammadim; Our translator, Aquila, Vatablus, Pagninus, Lago and Lyran translate Pygmies. The Syriac and Arabic versions each make no mention of Pygmies here. Pygmaeus therefore is the same as πηχυαῖος, that is, of a cubit. Thus Hesychius, Favorinus, Henry Stephanus, and others in their Lexicons. Moreover they are called of a cubit, not because they were only one cubit in height, as the authors already cited wish; nor yet, as Forster does, because compared to the towers in which they were, standing below them they appear to be of one cubit, as Pygmies are commonly thought to be; but because they had five or six cubits of stature, and were as great as giants: so that they were measured not by the foot, as other men commonly are, but by the cubit. Thus in Hebrew anshei hammiddah, that is, men of measure, I Paralipomenon XX, 6, and elsewhere, are called not those who have small stature, but those who have great stature. Hence St. Jerome, the author of this version: "Pygmies," he says, "are called from πυγμή, that is from wrestling and combat," so that Pygmaeus is the same as agraph, that is, a boxer, from fighting and wrestling, as if the Prophet were saying: Pygmies, that is, most warlike boxers were in the garrison of Tyre. Such a Pygmaeus, that is, of a cubit, was he of whom Pliny writes, book VII, chapter XVI: "We find in the records of Salamis that the son of Euthymenes grew to three cubits in three years." Such also was a gammad, that is, of a cubit, Og king of Bashan, of whom it is said in Deuteronomy III, 11: "His bed of iron is shown, having nine cubits of length, and four of breadth, according to the measure of a man's cubit." Such was also Goliath, "who was of the height of six cubits and a span," I Kings XVII, 4. For giants, because of their vast body, were strong and warlike, Genesis VI, 4. Hence some think the Hebrew Gammadim to be the proper name of a certain people, which was then illustrious and warlike. Whence Marinus in his Lexicon translates it Gammadenses: for they are joined with Persians, Lydians, Aradians and other peoples. But I have been able to find this people and this name of theirs nowhere. I have found in Mela and Pliny the Gamphasantes, peoples of Ethiopia: but these differ from Gammadim, both in name and in property: for they were unwarlike. Hear Pliny, book V, chapter VIII: "The Gamphasantes, naked and inexperienced in wars, gather with no foreign people." Secondly and more properly, Gammadim seem to be called from the root gomed, that is, cubit, as if Cubitantes, that is, wrestlers (and gamed in Pollux is a measure containing the space which is from the cubit to the closed fingers, which is otherwise called ammah), because they seem to have been strong warriors, wholly devoted to wrestling and fighting. For just as rams fight with their horns, and are therefore said to horn, and are called horning: so Gammadim are called as if cubitantes, that is, fighting with cubits, and contending by the thrust and pushing of cubits. For the whole strength of a man is in the cubits, just as in beasts it is in the horns. Such cubitantes were formerly boxers who were called Pancratiastae, who fought with the whole body, but especially with the cubits, just as Acrochiristes were called, who dueled with the upper hands and fingers; but Boxers, who fought with fists. Not that these fought from the towers of Tyre with cubits alone: but Gammadim, that is, cubitantes, are called strong and warlike wrestlers, robust warriors, exercised in wrestling and arms, by catachresis: just as boxers are called not only those who fight with fists, but those who contend with swords, spears, and missiles. Pankration, says Budaeus (in Greek παγκράτιον, that is, all-powerful), a kind of game and wrestling, so called from the fact that it is carried through with all the bodily strength summoned and with the straining of all the sinews. For the pancratists used not only fists but also kicks and elbows, and every mode of striking and grappling. Whence Propertius, book III, elegy XIV: "And suffers wounds from hard pankration." For the wrestling of boxers and wrestlers arose from this, that, as Donatus says, the ancients before the use of iron and arms contended with elbows, fists, kicks, bites, and the wrestling of bodies. Whence Lucretius, book V: "The ancient arms were hands, nails and teeth." The same thing was noted by Carolus Paschalius, book VI On Crowns, chapter XXIV. Therefore Gammadim in Hebrew are the same as in Greek Anconites and Pancratists, in Latin Cubital-fighters: for the angular, sharp, bent and hard elbows in man are what horns are in a ram. Whence that passage from Homer, Odyssey 7: "Leaning on my elbow I shall lie down:" from which Ancus Martius, the fourth king of the Romans, received his name, says Servius. For Ancus in Greek ἀγκών signifies elbow: whence Ancus in Latin "is called he who has a hooked arm, so that it cannot be extended," says Festus, from ancon, that is, a bent elbow; and ancilia are called shields and bucklers bent toward ἀγκύλη, that is, the elbow, toward which they are turned. The Cubital-fighters therefore are so called because armed and covered with shields bent toward the elbow. Hence again in Homer, Iliad 8, ἀγκυλότοξα are called archers, who use a bow bent and curved like an elbow: and ἀγκύλαι, javelin-throwers who use a hooked javelin, which is called ἀγκύλη, because similar to a bent elbow; for ἀγκύλη is called the bending of the elbow. Moreover, ancones in walls and on promontories are called angles, which contain and protect both sides. Whence Pliny concerning the city of Ancona in Italy, assigning its etymology from its situation, book III, chapter XIII: "Situated," he says, "on the very elbow of the curving shore." For ancon in Greek is elbow. Just as therefore Ancona is called so because situated in a bent angle like an elbow, it protects that whole region of Italy; and just as ancones protect walls and both shores of the sea: so these Gammadim, strong warriors, like ancones protected Tyre. And so they are called Gammadim, that is, cubital-fighters, that is, strong and mighty with elbows (understand by elbows the neighboring shoulders and arms) and shield-bearing, and armed with shields bent toward the elbow; or archers hurling missiles with a bow curved and hooked like an elbow. Finally, like ancones, the strongest defenders and protectors of Tyre: for that they were javelin-throwers is evident from what follows: "They hung their quivers in thy walls," as if to say, They are Gammadim, that is, armed and covered with a light shield bent toward the elbow, and at the same time drawing bows with the elbow. For they shot arrows by the bending both of the arm and of their bow, and by these they themselves unharmed wounded and injured the enemy. Hence Symmachus translated them as Medes. For the Medes of old had been renowned archers. Whence Horace, book II of the Odes, ode XVI: "The Mede," he says, "has a quiver for his flock." Hence Ezekiel says: "They filled up the beauty of thy appearance." Again the Medes were terrible in dress and in battle, and, as Horace says in book I of the Odes, ode XXIX, "horrible." Hear Herodotus, book VI: "The Athenians," he says, "were the first of all the Greeks to charge the enemy at a run, the first to endure to see those clothed in Median dress, whereas before the very name of the Medes had been a terror to the Greeks even to hear." These Gammadim, that is, cubital-fighters, therefore appear to have been a certain warlike kind of men, wholly devoted to fighting and wars, such as were once among the Romans the gladiators, among David the Cherethites and Pelethites; and now among the Poles are the Cossacks, among the Hungarians the Haiduks, among the Turks the Janissaries. That this is so is clear from St. Jerome, who, since he is the author of our version, and translated Gammadim, following Aquila, as Pygmies, explicitly explains them thus in his Commentary: "Pygmies," he says, "that is, warriors, and most ready for wars, ἀπὸ τῆς πυγμῆς, which in the Greek language is turned into combat." What could be clearer? Finally Gammadim alludes to the root עמד amad, that is, stood, persisted, was established: for the letters ain and gimel are akin. Whence the Syrians, and even now those who hebraize, say gain for ain: indeed the Septuagint, St. Jerome and other ancients did the same thing, when they translated עמורה amora as Gomorrha; עמר omor as gomor. Thus Gammadim is said as it were עמדים ammadim, that is, stationary soldiers, such as were once among the Romans the triarii, now are the Swiss. For these are of greatest value in defensive war: for they stand firmly and constantly in their station, and allow themselves rather to be cut to pieces than to depart from it, and to surrender their prince or city to the enemy: whence they are accustomed to be placed in the garrisons of cities. Hence the Septuagint translated, thy keepers, as if to say: Thou hadst, O Tyre, for thy protection whatever could humanly be desired: thou hadst indeed the sea as a ditch, rock as a rampart, towers as bulwarks, Gammadim as garrison soldiers; but none of these things will be able to protect thee against the Chaldeans, or rather against God sending the Chaldeans against thee. Shouldst thou have giants, who by their strength constraining enemies, dash them, as a lion constraining a beast with its arms, dashes and kills it as a flea; shouldst thou have Swiss, shouldst thou have Cossacks, shouldst thou have Janissaries armed with shields and quivers: God will blow away all these like flies, so that from thee mortals may learn that their defenses are to be placed not in soldiers, not in walls, not in engines of war, but in God alone, and that they strive to reconcile Him to themselves, angered by their sins, through penance: which if they do, they will need neither Gammadim nor Swiss, but God will defend and protect them against all enemies, against all most warlike soldiers, against all demons, according to that in Proverbs XVIII, 10: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the just runneth to it, and shall be exalted."
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12. CARTHAGINIANS. — The Hebrew Tharsis signifies sea, as the Chaldean translator rendered it here, and all islanders, or those beyond the sea, such as especially were the Carthaginians, who filled all seas with their fleets, particularly Tyre. For Carthage was the daughter and colony of Tyre. Aptly therefore by Tharsis here Carthage is understood. See the sayings on Isaiah II, 16. This city was a rival and terror of the Roman empire, says Cicero in his oration for Murena. Of it thus sings Virgil, I Aeneid: "An ancient city was there, which Tyrian colonists held, / Carthage, opposite to Italy, and far from / The Tiber's mouth, rich in resources, and most fierce in the pursuits of war." And Solinus, cap. XXX: "This city, says he, as Cato in a senatorial oration affirms, when king Hiarbas held dominion over things in Libya, a woman Elissa, of Phoenician house, built, and called it Karthadam, which in the Phoenician tongue expresses a new city. For Kartha is the same as city, hada new: for which the Hebrews (to whom both the Phoenician tongue is akin, and the Punic tongue sprung from it, as St. Augustine testifies,) say Kiriat chadas or hadas. Moreover from Karthada was made Karthago, changing d into g and a into o. Hence by Stephanus, in the book On Cities, it is called καινὴ πόλις, that is, new city; and Virgil, I Aeneid, gives it the same epithet, when he says: "Thou shalt see / The walls, and the rising citadel of new Carthage." By the Greeks it is called Καρχηδών as it were Καρταγηδών. It is therefore a fiction that Carthage is said to be named from Kartha, that is, a bull's hide. Thus the Spanish built a new city which they founded in the West Indies, and called it Carthage. In a similar way Dido, the foundress of Carthage, "by her true name, says Servius, was called Elissa before: but after her death, was called Dido by the Phoenicians, that is, a virago, in the Punic tongue, or beloved;" and perhaps also before her death from דוד dod, that is, beloved: whence David, and that in Psalm LXVII: "King of virtues of the beloved, beloved," says P. Serarius in Joshua II, Question XXV, with whom see more on Hebrew-Punic names.
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13. GREECE. — Hebrew יון javan, the same is with vowels changed as Ionia, that is, Greece, called Javan, from Javan the fourth son of Japhet. Javan, says St. Jerome, signifies, is and is not, such as tropologically are deceitful heresies. Literally Vilalpando: Javan, says he, that is, is and is not, are Greek merchants, who are now in this port, now are not, but depart to another. Alcazar adds, Apocalypse cap. XVII, 7, pag. 812, at the end, that by this name is noted the inconstancy of all Greeks, not of their minds only, but also of their pride and power. THUBAL, — that is, Iberians, namely Spaniards. Thus St. Jerome. See the sayings on Genesis X, 2. MOSOCH, — that is, Cappadocians, whose metropolis, which was afterwards called Caesarea by Augustus Caesar, is even now in their language called Macaza; thus named from Mosoch, the sixth son of Japhet, says Josephus, I Antiquities VI. BROUGHT TO THY PEOPLE. — The Hebrew texts add benephesh, that is, in the souls of men, that is with danger to the souls, that is to the lives of men. For merchants undergo these dangers.
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14. Concerning the house (that is, the nation and people) of Togarmah,—that is, of Phrygia, who are strong in cavalry, and so the Phrygian nation first joined chariots, as Pliny says, lib. VII, cap. XVI. Thus Theodoret and Josephus, I Antiq. VI. For Togarmah was the son of Gomer, Genesis X, 3, from whom the Tigraneans, who are called Phrygians by the Greeks, are believed to be named, and the Turks from a corrupted Hebrew word, as Maldonatus says. Whence some here understand the Turks. Others believe them to be Germans. Whence the Chaldean translator rendered it, from the province of Germania, as if by aphaeresis of the first syllable The, Togarmah were the same as Germania. Horses and horsemen.—He calls horsemen both soldiers and charioteers, and those who drive chariots and horses, such as the Phrygians were, who, as it were servants and slaves, served more in chariot-driving than in warfare, and for this purpose were sold in the forum of Tyre. Thus Maldonatus. Secondly, Vatablus understands by horsemen masters of driving horses, who teach noble youths the manner of riding, whom the Gauls call les piqueurs: these were available in the forum of Tyre, so that those eager for the art of horsemanship might hire and purchase their art and labor; as in the Roman forum a crowd of farm-laborers and rustics are available. Thirdly, and better, Marinus in the Lexicon, and Pineda, lib. V De Rebus Salom. IX: "Horses, he says, horsemen and mules." Hebr. susim, pharasim and peradim, which are indeed three kinds of horses, which were wont to be sold at Tyre. First, susim signifies common and chariot horses; secondly, pharasim signifies military horses, keen and warlike; thirdly, peradim, which our translator renders "mules," is a kind of horse peculiar to Syria, fit for war and swift for running, concerning which Aristotle lib. VI Hist. anim. cap. XXIV and XXXVI. Whence kings and princes were carried on it; as Absalom and his brothers, II Kings XIII, 29, and XVIII, 9. Hence it is called a horse, because it generates: it is also called a mule by Aristotle, in Hebrew pered, that is, separated; because it is a separated and peculiar kind of horse, and because it is similar in appearance to a mule, as Aristotle says. These mules therefore of Syria are unlike ours, and partly similar to horses, partly to our mules. Furthermore, that horseman is sometimes put for the horse itself the Latins teach, and Virgil does this, III Georg.: Imposed on the back, and the horseman (that is, the horse) they taught under arms / To leap upon the ground, and to gather proud steps. Thus to Solomon are said to have been "a thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen," that is, military horses, which in Hebrew are called pharasim, II Paralip. I, 14. Pharasim therefore now signifies a military horse, now a horseman, who פרט paras, that is, pricks and spurs the horse to running with spurs.
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15. SONS OF DEDAN. — The Septuagint, sons of the Rhodians. So also Polycarp, Theodoret and the Greeks. Not as though the Septuagint were deceived by the similarity of the Hebrew letters resch and daleth, as St. Jerome wishes, but because from the fourth son of Javan, called Dedan, the place Dedan was named, which afterwards, the word corrupted, was called Rhodan, which the Greeks, adapting to their own idiom, called Rhodon, as if this island had the likeness of a rose. Maldonatus wishes Dedan here to be of Idumaea, of which Jerem. XXV, 23. But this Dedan is different from that one; for this one is placed among islands; that one however was on the continent, namely in Idumaea. Many islands, the merchandise of thy hand, — that is, they exercised commerce with thee. So the Septuagint. EBONY, — made from ebony, which is a kind of precious wood; whence from it now precious rosaries are made. "Sole India bears black ebony," says Virgil in II Georgics. Under India, says Servius, and Ethiopia, and neighboring Egypt Virgil understood. Ebony is black, solid, beautiful, resembling stone in brightness and weight: whence immersed in waters it sinks, and is burned with pleasant odor. It is believed to be of thin substance and of cleansing virtue, and therefore to dispel dimness of the eyes. Hence in ancient times ebony was so prized that to the Emperor Nero ebony was brought as a rare thing. Herodotus writes that the Ethiopians with gold and ivory, and also hundreds of phalanxes from ebony, every third year paid tribute. So that in the authority of tributes the third thing was ebony, says Pliny lib. XII, cap. IV. The Chaldean translator rendered it, peacocks. THEY BARTERED FOR THY PRICE. — "For," that is, in exchange for thy price. 16. SYRIA. — In Hebrew Aram, Aram was the son of Shem, grandson of Noah, from whom Armenia was cultivated and named. Unless you prefer Aram to be named from height: for aram means high, lofty. So St. Jerome; for Armenia is the highest of all lands. The argument is that the ark first rested in it, the flood ending, Genesis VIII, 4. Formerly all Syria and neighboring regions were called Aram. Thus Aram of Damascus is Syria of Damascus, that is Coele-Syria, which is between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. Aram of the two rivers is Mesopotamia, which is between two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. The Septuagint translate, man, perhaps reading Adam for Aram, as St. Jerome wishes, or, as Villalpando, because the Aramaeans, as St. Jerome testifies, most devoted to commerce, are called Adamaei, that is earthly, and seeking the gains of the earth. OF THY WORKS, — namely of merchandise: or, as the Septuagint, of thy commerce; the Chaldean, of thy riches, that is to say, so that they might buy things which were made in thee with wonderful skill, especially purple, every kind of merchandise was brought to thee. A GEM. — So the Roman: therefore Theodoret and Maldonatus wrongly read gum, that is balm, or gum of myrrh, that is stacte, as the Septuagint have; although Maldonatus from R. David interprets gum as a kind of precious and black stone, which St. Jerome elsewhere translated as carbuncle. AND EMBROIDERED, — that is, garments scaled, and as if distinguished by shields, namely Phrygian cloths variously embroidered: for this is what רקמה rikma signifies. CHODCHOD, — that is, onyx, says Theodoret. St. Jerome, in Isaiah LIV, 12, translates it jasper; the Chaldean, gems. The Hebrews understand any precious merchandise by this name. Polycarp, alabandeum, that is carbuncle, or ruby, of which Pliny lib. XXXVII, VII. So also Villalpando and Vatablus.
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17. IN WHEAT, — that is, wheats they offered in thy markets. For in Hebrew ב bet is placed for את et, especially in verbs of contact. First, — that is, best, principal. Ezechiel here assigns the riches of various nations. In a similar way significantly Sidonius Apollinaris, in the Panegyric to the Emperor Majorian, describes what each nation and region produces thus: The Indus bears ivory, the Chaldean amomum, / The Assyrian gems, the Seres fleeces, the Sabaean frankincense, / Attica honey, Phoenicia palms, Lacedaemon olive, / Argos horses, Epirus mares, the Gaul livestock, / The Chalyb arms, Libya wheat, Campania Bacchus, / The Lydian gold, the Arab gum, Panchaia myrrh, / Pontus beaver, Tyre purple dye, Corinth bronze, / Sardinia silver, Spain ships bears. So also Pindar in the Pythians assigns to Lacedaemon dogs; to Syria goats, to Argos arms, to Thebes chariots, to Sicily vehicles. And Virgil, II Georgics: Sole India / Bears black ebony: the frankincense rod is only for the Sabaeans. / What of the groves of Ethiopia soft with wool, / And fleeces which the Seres comb thin as leaves? / Media bears sad juices, and the slow flavor / Of the blessed apple. And soon preferring Italy to all, he thus describes its riches and products: But heavy crops, and the Massic wine of Bacchus / Have filled it: olives and happy herds hold it. / Hence the warrior horse advances high in the field. / Here is perpetual spring, and summer in foreign months, / Twice pregnant cattle, twice the tree useful for fruit. / These same silver streams, and bronze metals, / It shows in veins, and much gold has flowed from it. / This sharp race of men, the Marsi, and the youth of the Sabelli / It has brought forth: this the Decii, the Marii, and great Camilli, / The Scipios hard in war, and thee especially Caesar. / Hail great mother of crops, Saturnian earth, / Great of men.
27:18
18. In the multitude of thy works, — namely because works, for example Tyrian garments, or purple ones, which Dedan here is of Idumæa, of which Jerem. XXV, 23. The Septuagint; although Maldonatus from R. David interprets it as a kind of precious and black stone, which St. Jerome elsewhere translated as carbuncle. thou didst make, O Tyre, thou didst sell to the Damascenes. Thus Polycarp and Theodoret. IN RICH WINE. — Aquila and Theodotion retain the Hebrew word, and translate it, in wine from Chelbon, which the Scholiast thinks is the city of Malaba: whence it seems the word Malvasia is derived (a most delicate wine), but Damascene, not Cretan: for here the matter concerns the riches of Damascus brought to Tyre. Of the best colonists. — In Hebrew צחר tsachar, that is, bright, splendid.
27:19
19. Dan, — a city in the borders of Israel, I Reg. III, 20, which afterwards was Paneas, and in honor of Tiberius Cæsar was called Cæsarea Philippi, by Philip the Tetrarch, brother of Herod. Mosel. — A place name: where it is I have not yet found, and no one explains it. Vatablus takes Mosel as an appellative, and translates it, a Greek wanderer, that is running hither and thither for the sake of trade. STACTE. — Myrrh that distills (for it is the nature of myrrh to distill), which is the purest and best. Hence it is called the tear of myrrh, just as the tear of wine is the most excellent and delicate. CALAMUS, — is not cinnamon, but another fragrant aroma, of which Pliny lib. XII, XXII.
27:20
20. In tapestries for sitting, — which were used both in bedchambers clothed with them while remaining at home, and in chariots strewn with them while being carried. The Chaldee translates it, precious garments for riding. Namely these precious coverings were, with which they covered and adorned chariots and horses. The Septuagint translates it, choice beasts for chariots.
27:21
21. CEDAR, — a region of Arabia, named from Cedar the son of Ishmael, says St. Jerome. MERCHANTS OF THY HAND, — that is, stipulating with thee by hand given: or rather, as if to say, They were at thy hand, that is, neighbors, and relatives bringing kids and lambs to thy markets: or, as Maldonatus, who traded for thee, were as hands and ministers to thee, as in verse 15, he said: "The isles many were the merchandise of thy hand."
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22. THY MERCHANTS WITH ALL THE CHIEF SPICES. — Spices are called not only odors, but also fragrant and medicinal fruits, or all aromatic goods, such as clove, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, galbanum, stacte, frankincense, aloe, musk, sandalwood, mastic, amber, balsam, ginger, cassia, etc., which formerly were conveyed from Arabia and India to Tyre and Alexandria, now to Lisbon. SABA. — Whence the Arabs Sabæans. RECHA, — is a city of Arabia Felix.
27:23
23. HARAN, — that is Carrhæ of the Parthians, where Crassus was slain. CHENE, — Theodoret wishes it to be Chalne, or Chalanne, where the tower of Babel was built, so that it is said Chene for Chalanne in a shortened and corrupted form; or certainly Babel was called in Hebrew Chene, that is, named, famous: the Septuagint translates it, the land of Chanaan. EDEN, — a most pleasant region of Syria near Damascus, as is gathered from Amos I, 5, from the Hebrew, where many think Adam was formed, and paradise was. CHELMAD. — The Chaldee, Media.
27:24
24. MANIFOLD. — In Hebrew המכלים hemichlulim, that is, in universality, or in all manner of variety of goods, for example cloths, which they wrapped in precious "wrappings" of hyacinth, and bound with cords of silk: so great was the luxury of Tyre, so great its riches. Thus St. Jerome and Theodoret.
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25. THE SHIPS OF THE SEA, THY PRINCES IN THY MERCHANDISE. — In Hebrew thy ships are שרות sarot, that is, chief, namely they stand out among all the ships of all nations. Hence Pliny, lib. V, cap. XIII, praises the Phœnicians, whose head was Tyre, as it were the inventors of the art, first, of navigation; second, of warfare; third, of the stars; fourth, of letters. Our translator renders it, "thine," as if to say, Thy princes are as ships, because by their industry all goods and riches are conveyed into the city, that is, they take care to be conveyed, as if to say, Thy princes trade with the ships of the sea, and enrich themselves by them: or, as others, as if to say, The ships, which trade in the sea for thee, are thy princes, that is, of thy princes: that is thy merchants and sailors are not poor or common, but princes. Or, as Vilalpandus: Thy princes are as ships, because just as a ship bears goods, which contribute nothing to the ship, and often harm it, and sink it: so the riches, honor, and administration of the republic of the princes themselves is to them a heavy burden, and often their ruin, not a relief or consolation, Eccle. V, 12. Fifth and most simply, and most aptly to the Hebrew, as if to say, Thy ships are thy princes, that is, they hold the first and chief place in thy trade, so that they seem to be the princes of thy commerce. THOU WAST GLORIFIED, — can be translated from the Hebrew, thou wast weighed down, namely as if by thy ships with goods and riches, in which thou gloriest: hence by these thou wast sunk and oppressed and made shipwreck, as follows.
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26. IN MANY WATERS YOUR ROWERS BROUGHT YOU, — that is to say, Just as a trireme heavily laden, if it is brought into the deep sea by rowers, is exposed to the danger of being sunk by wind, and waves, and its own weight: so you, O Tyre, your governors, wishing to raise you to the height of glory and riches, exposed you to the danger of destruction. Secondly, into many waters, namely of calamities, or of the peoples and soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar, your governors brought you; while they were attracted by your riches and abundance of things to your siege and conquest. THE SOUTH WIND BROKE YOU, — that is to say, shall break you, as a tree planted in the middle of the sea upon a rock; for the south wind raged upon it, indeed raged furiously. This is Nebuchadnezzar, whom it is fitting to compare to the south wind, because he himself came to Tyre from the conquest of Jerusalem, which was situated to the south. Secondly, the very stormy south wind aptly signifies the storms, tempests and shipwrecks of Tyre. Whence they wish the south wind to be named from drawing in waters. Thus Polycarp, Theodoret and St. Jerome, who says: "All the riches of Tyre, with the south wind blowing, perish."
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27. YOUR INSTRUMENT, — all your cargo, all your chests full of merchandise, all your goods, says Maldonatus. Vatable translates it, all your commerce, that is to say all your merchandise and riches, which you acquired by trading.
27:28
28. AT THE SOUND OF THE CRY OF YOUR PILOTS THE FLEETS SHALL BE TROUBLED, — that is to say, Just as when a ship perishes in shipwreck, the sailors and pilots cry out, so that other ships and fleets are disturbed, each fearing the same shipwreck for themselves: so at your disaster, O Tyre, and the wailing and clamor in that disaster, other cities and kingdoms were troubled. Secondly, properly, that is to say, Other ships and fleets, which were bringing merchandise to you, seeing you overthrown, shall be troubled and shall descend from their ships to land, as follows. Mystically St. Jerome: "Some, he says, ridiculously interpret the pilots as Bishops of heretics, counselors as priests, prows as archdeacons, rowers and sailors as deacons; and they refer the rulers to all the people: which if they had added the shipowner as the devil, they would have completed the tragedy. All of whom shall wail together, after they have perceived the shipwreck of their ship, and shall stand on land, and shall have lost all the beauty of false knowledge, and in place of joy and gladness, shall mark repentance in the bitterness of heart with mourning."
27:31
31. THEY SHALL SHAVE, — by shaving they shall make baldness.
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32. What city is like Tyre? — This is a mournful song; for those mourning shall say: "What city is like Tyre?" that is to say, What city was once so glorious, and now is so miserable, as Tyre? Which became silent, — which lost both voice and life, which was slain, that is to say, was cut off, and perished, so that scarcely any trace or memory of it remains. For the dead are called silent among the Hebrews and Latins. Hence in Hebrew דומה duma, that is to say, silence, is called the underworld. Thus also Ovid, in the fifth book of the Fasti: Soon also the lemures called the souls of the silent. Hence to become silent and to be silent is the same as to die.
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33. Which in the going forth of your commerce, — which in the exportation of merchandise by sea you filled peoples. Thus Maldonatus.
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34. NOW YOU ARE BROKEN BY THE SEA, — that is to say, In the sea you seemed to yourself to be most firm, but the Chaldeans cast your citizens and riches into the sea. Whence he adds: "In the depths of the waters your riches."
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35. AND ALL THEIR KINGS STRUCK BY THE TEMPEST CHANGED THEIR FACES. — He calls the disaster of Tyre a tempest, as being situated in the sea, whose fame struck and terrified the neighboring kings as if by a tempest: for a tempest brings disaster to ships and islands. In Hebrew it is: Their kings were struck with horror, and their faces were troubled, thus Vatable; the Septuagint: Their kings shall be amazed with amazement, and their faces shall weep. But truly horror and amazement can be understood as a horrible and amazing tempest, as our Interpreter translates it.
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36. They hissed, — either as if in amazement, or rather as if in mockery: just as one who sees a man fall into mud first pities him, then mocks him. Similar passages are in Job chapter XIX, 8, and XXIX, 17. THOU ART BROUGHT TO NOTHING. — Vatablus translates: Thou hast become a terror, that is, thou hast become a mirror and example of the wrath of God, by which all nations may be terrified and struck down. THOU SHALT NOT BE FOR EVER, — that is, for a long time, namely for 70 years, as is said in Isaiah XXIII, 15; or, as if to say, Thou shalt never return to thy former glory and riches. Truly St. Augustine, in his Sentences, sentence 96: "The impiety of the wicked," he says, "must necessarily perish, either by its own judgment, or by the sentence of God. For no iniquity remains permanent, to which correction or damnation does not put an end." Note: In this chapter he compares the commonwealth to a ship, the governors to a shipmaster, riches to merchandise: and this is aptly applied to the kingdom and commonwealth of Tyre, which, situated in the sea, abounded in ships, shipmasters and merchandise: Tyre therefore stood out in the sea like a ship. Thus symbolically any powerful city has the appearance of a ship: for both are surrounded by their walls and ramparts: both have their houses, storerooms, decks, towers, watchtowers: both have their citizens, soldiers, governors, helms and rudders. Hence Juvenal: "Either from the helm of Britain / Arviragus shall fall"; signifying that Domitian would rule Britain, with Arviragus, the lord of the island, expelled. Furthermore Suetonius in his life of Nero, chapter XLVI, relates that a few days before his death he saw in a dream that the helm was wrenched from him as he was steering a ship, and that he was dragged by Octavia into the deepest darkness: which the soothsayers answered portended that he would be cast down from the administration of the empire, and would die most miserably. Moreover on an ancient Tyrian coin there is found a ship stamped, namely for the reason that the Tyrians boasted themselves to be the authors of the first navigation. Thus Pierius, Hieroglyphics XLV, chapter X. On ancient coins of Janus is seen a ship with its helmsman with this inscription, Rome. For Janus (whom many believe was Noah) arrived by ship in Italy. Whence Ovid, in the first book of the Fasti: "But good posterity marked the stern in bronze, / Testifying to the coming of the divine Guest." Furthermore in the Gospels the Church is signified by a ship, especially because Christ preached from Peter's ship and taught the crowds. Hence the Roman Pontiff wears on his ring a ship with the fisherman Peter. For he steers the ship of Christ, namely the Church: concerning which it is therefore said: "It is tossed about, but that vessel never sinks." Let princes and magistrates therefore remember that they are shipmasters of the commonwealth, and ought to govern the commonwealth with that care, vigilance and diligence with which a shipmaster governs a ship. Let them therefore be Argonauts, Theodoret and St. Jerome, who says: "All the riches of Tyre, when the south wind blows, perish."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
27:5
… The precious wood of the cedar was widely used by Solomon in his many sumptuous constructions (1 Kings 5:6; 7:2, etc.) and likewise by wealthy Hebrews in their palaces (Isa. 9:10). It was also used to build ships (Ezek. 27:5) or idols (Isa. 44:14). Considered a symbol of life and of legal purity because of its incorruptibility, it was also used in liturgical ceremonies (Lev. 14:4-49; Num. 19:6).
poetic texts (cf. Iudc. 9, 15; Is. 2, 13; 60, 13; Jer. 22, 23; Ez. 17, 3; 27, 5; 31, 3; Zach. 11, 1; Ps. 28, 5; 91, 13, etc.) and in the historical ones (cf. I Reg. 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, etc.) already the Egyptians exploited the famous woods of Lebanon, which …
27:6
… (Is. 33, 9; Jer. 50, 19; Mic. 7, 14; v. Ps. 67, 16 f.; Nah. 1, 4), famous for its pastures populated with bulls (a symbol of ferocity and pride; Ps. 21, 13; Ez. 39, 18), once covered with forests of admired oaks (Is. 2, 13; Zech. 11, 2) and exported (Ez. 27, 6), now rich in cereals, especially in the plain of Hawrân. …
… The Greeks gave the island the name of Κύπρος, which already appears in Homer, while the Phoenicians called it Kittim (= Citium), a name adopted by the Bible (Gen. 10, 4; Num. 24, 24 [and Dan. 11, 30]; Is. 23, 1. 12; Jer. 2, 10; Ez. 27, 6).
27:7
ELISA (Heb. 'Elīsa). - Firstborn of Javan (Gen. 10:4). The name returns in Ezek. 27:7: the "isles of E." carried on the purple trade with Tyre.
27:8
… Even when the powerful rival Tyre prevailed, the name of Sidonians remained synonymous with Phoenicians (1 Kings 16:31). In the Bible S. is remembered both as a city (Judg. 1:31; 18:28; Isa. 23:2; Ezek. 27:8) and as a territory that marked the northern frontier of Canaan (Gen. 10:19) and bordered on the tribes of Zebulun (ibid. 49:13) and of Asher (Josh. 19:28). It is called "great S." …
27:9
BYBLOS. - One of the most ancient cities of Phoenicia, called in Greek Βόβλος, Assyrian Gubal (in the el-'Amārnah letters: Gubla), Egyptian Kbn (from the XII dynasty onward Kpn), Hebrew Gēbhāl (Ez. 27, 9), today Gebejl, situated on the coast of the Mediterranean, about 40 km north of Beirut. …
27:10
2. Lâdh, Lâdhîm (Lydia, Lydii; Isa. 66:19; Ezek. 27:10; 30:5; cf. Gen. 10:13; 1 Chron. 1:13): a region and population perhaps in North Africa.
27:12
The Hebrew Tartīš is identified with Ταρτήσσος, the Ταρσήβον of Polybius (III, 24, 2), in Spain: Tartessus on the Baetis or Guadalquivir (Herodotus, I, 163; IV, 152). It was a wealthy colony of Tyre (Is. 23; Ez. 27, 12), famous for its commerce (ibid. 38, 13); silver was extracted there (Ier. 10, 9). Often in the Old Testament there is mention of "ships of T.", large ships used for long voyages …
27:13
… In Isa. 66:19 Yahweh promises that he will bring the Israelites as far as the Greeks and the "islands." Ezek. 27:13, 19 and Joel 3:6 (Heb. 4:6) speak of the slave, vessel and metal trade that the Tyrians carried on with the Greeks. …
… Jāveān). - Hebrew transcription of the name of the "Ionians" (Ἰάφεθ) of Asia Minor (Gen. 10:2, 4; 1 Chron. 1:5 agg.; Isa. 66:19; Ezek. 27:13), like the Assyrian Jāveān, Jām(a)nu, the Sanskrit Javanā, the Persian Jaunā (cf. Aeschylus, Pers., 178, 563), the Coptic Wejenin. …
II. SLAVERY IN THE BIBLE. - Among the ancient Hebrews, as among other peoples, prisoners of war fed the slave market in a particular way (I Sam. 30:3; Am. 1:9; Ez. 27:13; I Mach. 3:41). Moreover, all the children of a slave were considered the property of the master (Ex. 21:4). An Israelite could not be sold as a slave to foreigners; indeed, he should …
Thubal (Heb. Tûbhal; Septuagint Θοβήλ)
The three names are again associated in Ezek. 27:13 as suppliers of slaves to the Phoenicians; T. and Javan are mentioned in Isa. 66:19 as typical distant, overseas peoples; but more often T. is associated with Meshech: both are part …
27:15
… According to Ez. 27:15, 20 the D. were in commercial relations with Tyre.
27:18
Abel (Hebrew Hēbel; Septuagint Greek Ἀβέλ)
… According to a tradition (Midraš Cant., ed. Schechter) collected by St. Jerome (In Ez. 27:18), the killing took place in the place where Damascus later arose (dam "blood," šaqah "to drink").
27:21
Cedar (Hebrew Qēdhār = "Bronzed by the Sun")
… They were a pastoral people with black tents, similar to those of present-day Bedouins, made from the hair of goats or camels (Song 1:4 [Heb. 5]). They also had villages (Isa. 42:11). Flocks were their wealth (Isa. 60:7; Jer. 49:28; Ezek. 27:21). Famous archers (Isa. 21:16 f.) and cruel raiders (Ps. 119 [120]:5), they are mentioned together with the Nabateans in the cuneiform monuments (Qidri and Qadri) and by Pliny (Nat. …
27:23
1) a region on the Euphrates, east of Aleppo (II Kings 19:12; Is. 37:12; Ez. 27:23; Am. 1:5): it is the Bīt-Adini of the Assyrian monuments; 2) a Levite descended from Gershon, from the time of King Hezekiah (II Chron. 29:12; 31:15).
27:25
… colony of Tyre (Is. 23; Ez. 27, 12), famous for its commerce (ibid. 38, 13); silver was extracted there (Ier. 10, 9). Often in the Old Testament there is mention of "ships of T.", large ships used for long voyages (I Reg. 10, 22; 22, 49; Is. 2, 16; Ez. 27, 25; Ps. 48, 8). In the table of nations, T. appears among the sons of Javan (Gen. 10, 4; I Par. 1, 7): "Ionians" of Greece and Asia Minor. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.