Ezekiel 28:4

Eze 28:4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

Ver. 4. With thy wisdom thou hast gotten thee riches.] Which yet is not every wise man’s happiness. Aelian {a} observeth that the wisest and best of the Grecians were very poor, as Socrates, Aristides, Phocion, Ephialtes, Epaminondas, Pelopidas, Lamachus, and others. Fortuna fere favet fatuis: nescio quomodo, bonae mentis soror, est paupertas, saith he in Petronius. {b} Piety goeth oft yoked with poverty.

{a} Var. Hist., lib. ii.

{b} Eumolpus.

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.

With thy wisdom and with thy understanding thou hast gotten thee riches,.... Through skill in navigation and trade, for which the Tyrians and their princes were famous, they acquired great wealth: so antichrist, by carnal policy, and hellish subtlety, has amassed vast treasures together; the sale of pardons and indulgences has brought immense riches into the pope's coffers:

and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures; in great quantities; see Rev 18:3.

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

With thy wisdom; by thy policy in government, and by thy skill in trading, for he speaks of that kind of prudence to which these names are given.

Gotten, or

made, so the word. Riches; power and might, so the Hebrew, as well as wealth and riches, and so the Gallic version reads

puissance; the princes of Tyre had been prudent, and so increased their power and interest.

Into thy treasures; into both his own private purse, and into the public treasuries too.

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

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to the ruler of Tyre.

General Information:

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

You have made yourself wealthy with wisdom and skill

The abstract nouns "wisdom" and "skill" can be translated using the adjectives "wise" and "skillful." AT: "You have become wealthy by your own wisdom and skill" or "You have become wealthy by being wise and skillful" (See: Reflexive Pronouns and Abstract Nouns)

obtained gold and silver

"stored up gold and silver"

treasuries

places to store valuable objects and keep them safe

By great wisdom and by your trading, you have multiplied your wealth, so your heart is arrogant because of your wealth

The abstract nouns "wisdom" and "wealth" can be translated using the adjectives "wise" and "wealthy." AT: "By being very wise and by your trading, you have become more and more wealthy, so your heart is arrogant because of how wealthy you are" (See: Abstract Nouns)

your heart is arrogant

Here "heart" represents the will or thoughts of the ruler of Tyre. AT: "you are arrogant" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

wise

gold

silver

heart

arrogant

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

did you acquire wealth for yourself [Heb. עָשִיתָ לְךָ חָיִל. lit. did you make.] Did you acquire property for yourself?

and gather gold and silver [Heb. וְתַעַשּׂ,] and gather.

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.