Ezekiel 27:28

Eze 27:28 The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.

Ver. 28. The suburbs shall shake.] Or, The waves, or the boats which they throw out of the ship. See on Eze 26:10.

Of the cry of thy pilots.] At their Conclamatum est: but why, did they then steer no better? Here we see - all covet, all loose.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, the cities near about thee, as was Zidon, Arvad, and others.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The suburbs--the buildings of Tyre on the adjoining continent.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 28. The cry of thy pilots.] When the ship was dashed against the rocks by the violence of the winds and the waves, and all hope of life was taken away, then a universal cry was set up by all on board. I have heard this cry, and nothing more dismal can be imagined, when the ship by a violent tempest is driving among rocks on a lee shore. Then "All lost! cut away the boat!" is more dreadful than the cry of fire at midnight.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(28) Suburbs.—This word means an open place around a building or city. There was no land around Tyre, and it is here used, therefore, in a general sense—all thy surroundings.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. the suburbs] According to tradition (Baer, Ezek.) the term here is differently pointed from that rendered “suburbs,” e.g. ch. Eze_45:2. The latter term means the free space surrounding a city or building. If the sense of the present word were the same reference would be to the lands or coasts in the vicinity of Tyre, a sense far from natural. Jerome conjectured “fleets” (Ew.). In Isa_57:20 the verb describes the violent action of the waters of the sea (Amo_8:8), and A. V. marg. suggests waves here—the waves shall quake at the cry of thy pilots.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea,.... Inferior officers, and the common people; though this may be literally understood of all sorts of seafaring people, differently employed in ships; some at the oar; some at the sails; and others at the helm; but all shall quit their posts,

and shall come down from their ships; either there being no further business for them, an entire stop being put to trade, through the fall of Tyre; or because of danger, and to save themselves, would leave the ship, and betake to their boats, and make for land: hence it follows,

they shall stand upon the land; upon the continent, being safely arrived; looking upon the shipwrecks, and bewailing the loss of Tyre, as in the next verse.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The suburbs - Or, “precincts.” Tyre rose from the midst of the sea; her “precincts” were the surrounding waters and the adjoining coasts.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The lesser cities on terra firma shall be alarmed with summons of their governors to put themselves in a posture of defence. Or, the waves, an elegant hyperbole, thus read; The very waves, which roar and terrify, shall hear and tremble at a stranger and more doleful cry than their own. Or, as our version, The suburbs, which are nearest the sea, shall first hear the outcries of pilots and mariners despairing of escape, when, their ship broken to pieces, all at once shriek out. So shall thy citizens cry and fall.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

28. The suburbs — Or adjoining coast lands. R.V., margin, “waves.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The suburbs. The word is so translated in Eze_45:2, and Eze_48:17, and is used of the pasture-lands round the cities of refuge in Num_35:2. Here it is probably used in a wider sense for the coastlands of Phoenicia, or even (as in the margin) for the "waves" that washed the shores of the island-city. The Vulgate gives classes (equivalent to "fleets").

Vers. 28-36. The bewailing of the city.

Very picturesque and impressive is this representation of the effect produced upon the nations by the fall of Tyre. So world-wide was the city"s commerce, that no people, however distant, could be unaffected by the catastrophe; and so awful was its fate, that no sensitive mind could contemplate it unmoved. To the vision of the prophet-poet, the galley labors and strains, and at last sinks in the waters of the Mediterranean. The dwellers upon the land and those who sail the sea gather together upon the shore to witness the shipwreck. Their cry and bitter wailing fill the air. Every sigma of humiliation and of mourning is exhibited by the spectators. A lamentation, a dirge, rises from the company of those deeply moved by sympathetic sorrow. They celebrate the glories of the past; they bear witness to present calamity and woe; they confess with terror that Tyre never shall be more. We trace in the demeanor and the language here depicted

I ASTONISHMENT AT THE SPECTACLE OF DESTRUCTION. The scene was so unexpected, so much in contradiction to all human anticipation and foresight, so revolutionary, so appalling, that amazement was the predominant emotion of those who witnessed it.

II SENSE OF THE WORLD"S LOSS BY REASON OF THE SHIPWRECK. The earth seemed poorer for the overthrow and annihilation of Tyre the leading seaport and commercial center of the nations. In Ver. 33 this loss is depicted, the loss alike of peoples and of kings. Riches and merchandise disappeared, engulfed with Tyre in the insatiable deep. The march of human civilization seemed to be arrested.

III CONTRAST WITH THE REMEMBERED AND MEMORABLE PAST. Cities, like men, are sometimes best understood and appreciated when they are no more. Those who recollected Tyre"s splendor would, in their old age, tell a new generation of the bygone wonders. "Who is there like Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea?" The puny successors to the peerless seaport would point many a moral, and inspire many a regret for vanished glories.

IV UNSETTLEMENT AND FOREBODING AS TO THE FUTURE. Astonishment is often associated with fear and trouble. When a vast calamity occurs, it is as if the fountains of the great deep were broken up.

Men"s hearts fail them for fear. What is to be the future of the world"s history? What nation is secure? What throne is stable? What principle, what power, shall bear sway in coming times? There is but one answer to these questions, but one confidence that can never be shaken, "The kingdoms of the earth are the Lord"s.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The suburbs - The suburbs, which are nearest the sea, shall first hear the out-cries of pilots, and mariners.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to Tyre. The city of Tyre continues to be described as if it were a wrecked ship. (See: Metaphor)

General Information:

The words "you" and "your" in these verses refer to Tyre.

Cities at the sea will tremble

Here "Cities at the sea" represents the people in those cities. AT: "The people of the cities by the sea will tremble" (See: Metonymy)

All those who handle oars

"All the rowers"

wail bitterly

"cry out sadly"

they will cast dust up on their heads. They will roll about in ashes

These are expressions of grieving and mourning. (See: Symbolic Action)

translationWords

voice

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

the neighboring districts [Heb. מִגְרשּׁוֹת,] like (Num. 35:2): “and open land (וּמִגְרָשּׁ) for the cities.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.