What is the meaning of Ezekiel 27:15?

The men of Dedan were your clients

- Ezekiel singles out Dedan, a south-Arabian caravan center (Genesis 10:7; Ezekiel 27:20), to show the far-reaching allure of Tyre’s commerce.

- “Clients” pictures regular business partners who depended on Tyre’s port. The term conveys ongoing, structured trade, not casual bartering (cf. Isaiah 21:13; Jeremiah 25:23).

- The verse underscores Tyre’s magnetism: even distant desert traders came to her, highlighting the city’s pride that later draws divine judgment (Ezekiel 28:5).

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many coastlands were your market

- “Coastlands” stretches the scene beyond Arabia to the islands and seaports of the Mediterranean (Isaiah 42:4; Jeremiah 47:4).

- Tyre functioned like an international marketplace, centralizing goods from Phoenicia, Greece, Cyprus, and beyond (Ezekiel 27:3).

- God’s prophetic spotlight reveals the breadth of human achievement—and its vulnerability when divorced from humble dependence on Him (Proverbs 16:18).

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they paid you with ivory tusks and ebony

- Payment in luxury goods shows Tyre dealt at the highest economic tier. Ivory appears in Solomon’s import lists (1 Kings 10:22; Psalm 45:8); ebony is likewise prized (Revelation 18:12).

- These items came from Africa and India, confirming Tyre’s global reach.

- The tiered exchange illustrates worldly wealth that dazzles yet cannot save (Matthew 16:26). Tyre’s treasures would soon sink beneath God’s judgment (Ezekiel 27:27).

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summary

Ezekiel 27:15 paints Tyre as a maritime superpower: Dedan’s caravans, Mediterranean coastlands, and exotic African-Asian luxury all converged at her docks. The prophet celebrates the scope of human enterprise yet, in context, warns that even the most sophisticated networks crumble when pride displaces reliance on the Lord.