A Vast Trade Catalogue Displays Tyre's Reach

The world's ledger is read aloud

Tarshish trades with silver, iron, tin, and lead. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech trade with persons of men and vessels of brass. Togarmah brings horses, horsemen, and mules. Dedan brings ivory and ebony. Syria is in her fairs with emeralds, purple, broidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate.

Judah and the land of Israel trade in wheat of Minnith, Pannag, honey, oil, and balm. Damascus brings wine of Helbon and white wool. Dan and Javan bring bright iron, cassia, and calamus. Dedan is in precious clothes for chariots. Arabia and Kedar bring lambs, rams, and goats. Sheba and Raamah bring spices, precious stones, and gold. Haran, Canneh, Eden, Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad bring chests of rich apparel, bound with cords.

Persons of men sit in the same list as wheat

The ships of Tarshish sing in the fairs; Tyre is replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. The catalogue is the city's greatness. It is also a moral inventory. Human beings are merchandise beside metals and grain.

These names are ancient trade partners, not modern states, and merchants are not a race. The list must not romanticize the sale of persons or turn old geography into a present ethnic map. Judah's own produce is inside the network; the indictment is the whole system of glory built on traffic.