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Ezekiel

About this book
Chapter 28

1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘Your heart is proud and you said, “I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas”—yet⁠ you are a man and not a god, though you think you are godlike. 3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you.⁠ 4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself; you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries. 5 By your great skill in trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart is proud because of your wealth. 6 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you think you are godlike, 7 I am about to bring foreigners against you, the most terrifying of nations. They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, and they will defile your splendor. 8 They will bring you down to the Pit, and you will die violently in the heart of the seas. 9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you—though you are a man and not a god—when you are in the power of those who wound you? 10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners; for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.’” 11 The Lord’s message came to me: 12 “Son of man, sing a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘You were the sealer of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God.⁠ Every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, topaz, and emerald, the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper, the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl; your settings and mounts were made of gold. On the day you were created they were prepared.⁠ 14 I placed you there with an anointed guardian cherub; you were on the holy mountain of God;⁠ you walked about amidst fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your behavior from the day you were created, until sin was discovered in you. 16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned; so I defiled you and banished you from the mountain of God—the guardian cherub expelled you from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor. I threw you down to the ground; I placed you before kings, that they might see you. 18 By the multitude of your iniquities, through the sinfulness of your trade, you desecrated your sanctuaries. So I drew fire out from within you; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth before the eyes of all who saw you. 19 All who know you among the peoples are shocked at you; you have become terrified and will be no more.’” 20 The Lord’s message came to me: 21 “Son of man, turn toward Sidon and prophesy against it. 22 Say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look, I am against you, Sidon, and I will magnify myself in your midst. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I execute judgments on her and reveal my sovereign power in her.⁠ 23 I will send a plague into the city and bloodshed into its streets; the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it from every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord. 24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord. 25 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them.⁠ Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.17 V:8 and Ezekiel 28:3

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Ezekiel's comparison with Daniel may refer to Danel from the Aqhat story, using the reputation of a wise foreign ruler to challenge the king of Tyre's pride.

Passages

KTU 1.17 V:8

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
[…] […] I will bring a bow […] […] arrows. And lo, on the seventh day, then Danel, the man of healing, then the hero, the devotee of Hrnm, rises and sits at the entrance of the gate, beneath the nobles who are on the threshing floor. He judges the case of the widow, he decides the cause of the orphan. When he lifts his eyes, he sees: at a thousand fields, ten thousand acres, the coming of Kothar; he looks, and he sees the striding of Hasis. He brings a bow; look, […] […] arrows. Then Danel, the man of healing, then the hero, the devotee of Hrnm, calls aloud to his wife: “Listen, lady Danatay, prepare a lamb from the flock for the appetite of Kothar- wa-Hasis, for the hunger of Hayyin, skilled of hand. Feed, give drink to
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Ezekiel 28:3

Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘Your heart is proud and you said, “I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas”—yet you are a man and not a god, though you think you are godlike. 3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you. 4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself; you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries. 5 By your great skill in trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart is proud because of your wealth.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

“... Other traditional forms of prayer are embedded with Ugaritic literary texts, such as requests for blessing, whether from a god (KTU 1.17 I 23–24; SAC 35; see also KTU 1.108.18–27) or from another human being (KTU 1.19 IV 32–33, SAC 54; cf. Gen. 48:15–16, 20). Divine blessing is likewise a staple of the Psalms (5:13[12]; 28:9; 29:11; 45:3[2]; 67:7–8[6–7]; 72:17; 107:38; 109:28; 115:12–13, 15; 128:5; 134:3; 147:13). The lament genre in the Psalms, an extended form of prayer that includes a complaint stating what the speaker lacks, can also be found embedded in the Ugaritic literary contexts (see Pardee 2012: 107). In the Baal Cycle, for example, the god Baal laments that he has no house like his brethren (KTU 1.3 IV 46–53, SAC 123; KTU 1.4 I 4–18, SAC 126; KTU 1.4 IV 50-57, SAC 131), and Aqhat describes the lament of the hero Danil that he has no son like his kin (KTU 1.17 I 16–22, SAC 35). Parenthetically, this Danil is thought to be the Canaanite antecedent to the figure of Daniel mentioned in Ezek. 14:14, 20 and 28:3 (and the namesake of Daniel in the biblical book named after him). The children of King Kirta lament their father’s life-threatening illness (KTU 1.16 I 12–23, SAC 87–88; KTU 1.16 II 33–49, SAC 89–90), an occasional source of lament also in the Psalter (6:3[2]; 38:4[3], 6[5]; 41:4–5[3–4]). ...”
Mark S. Smith, “Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms, ed. William P. Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 46.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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KTU 1.17 V:8 and Ezekiel 28:3

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