Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB Will you yet say before him who kills you, I am God? but you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.
- BSB Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.
- NKJV “Will you still say before him who slays you, ‘I am a god’? But you shall be a man, and not a god, In the hand of him who slays you.
- NASB ‘Will you still say, “I am a god,” In the presence of one who kills you, Though you are a mortal and not God, In the hands of those who wound you?
- NLT Will you then boast, ‘I am a god!’ to those who kill you? To them you will be no god but merely a man!
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
God mocks the king's claim to be divine, pointing out he is only a man helpless in the hand of his slayer. The verse exposes the folly of human pride pretending to deity.
Overview
The Lord challenges the king of Tyre's self-deification: when death comes, will he still claim godhood before the one who kills him? The prophet underscores the creature-Creator divide, that man is mortal and accountable. Such pretension to deity echoes humanity's fall and stands answered only in Christ, the true God who became man and humbled himself rather than grasping at glory.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ezek 28:2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
- Isa 31:3Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
- Ps 82:7But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
- Acts 12:22–23And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
- Dan 5:23–30But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
- Dan 4:31–32While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
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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 28:9 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
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