Verse Lens · Context pointer
Ezekiel 28:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
The prophetic lament states or reports “By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast…” at Ezekiel 28:16 as a specific part of “A Lament Uses Edenic and Cherubic Imagery for Tyre's King.”
Read It With
- Ezekiel 28:11–19
Read Ezekiel 28:16 with 28:11–19. By itself, “By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, date, exilic horizon, visionary movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: The king is poetically portrayed with perfection, Eden's jewels, an anointed cherub, holy mountain, trade violence, profaned sanctuaries, fiery expulsion, and public terror.
Why It Needs Context
Keep the line with Ezekiel 28:11–19. The prophetic lament states or reports “By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast…” at Ezekiel 28:16 as a specific part of “A Lament Uses Edenic and Cherubic Imagery for Tyre's King.” The literary form and this limit govern it: The lament's mythic royal imagery does not provide a simple biography of Satan or license demonizing political opponents.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Ezekiel 28:11–19 — A Lament Uses Edenic and Cherubic Imagery for Tyre's KingSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Ezekiel 28:11–19, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezekiel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezek.xml, OSIS 28:11–19
Open the fixed Hebrew Ezekiel file ↗