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The men of Dedan were your clients; many coastlands were your market; they paid you with ivory tusks and ebony.
Ezekiel 27:15 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB The men of Dedan were your traffickers; many islands were the market of your hand: they brought you in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.
  • KJV The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
  • NKJV The men of Dedan were your traders; many isles were the market of your hand. They brought you ivory tusks and ebony as payment.
  • NASB The sons of Dedan were your traders. Many coastlands were your market; they brought ivory tusks and ebony as your payment.
  • NLT Merchants came to you from Dedan. Numerous coastlands were your captive markets; they brought payment in ivory tusks and ebony wood.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Dedan and many coastlands brought Tyre ivory and ebony in exchange. It extends the reach of her trade to distant markets.

Overview

Dedan and the 'many islands' supplied luxury goods like ivory horns and ebony wood. The list keeps widening to show Tyre as the meeting point of global commerce. This breadth of prosperity, soon to vanish, illustrates the fragility of wealth and the folly of resting one's confidence in it rather than in God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 10

  • 1 Kgs 10:22For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
  • Rev 18:12cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;
  • Gen 10:7The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
  • Jer 25:23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair;
  • Ezek 27:20Dedan was your merchant in saddlecloths for riding.
  • Ezek 25:13therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.
  • 1 Chr 1:32The sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.
  • Gen 25:3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites.
  • 1 Chr 1:9The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
  • Jer 49:8Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ezekiel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ezekiel 27:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EzekielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.

How Ezekiel 27:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.