Your rowers have brought you out into the high seas: These two lines picture the “ship” of Tyre setting out on a journey as the rowers pulled on the oars to make the ship move out of the harbor and “out to sea” (Good News Translation). For rowers see Ezek 27.8. The high seas simply refers to the open sea. Translators may render these lines as “The rowers have moved your ship out into the open sea.”

The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas: The east wind is the sirocco, which is the strong, hot wind that blows from the east in the countries around the eastern Mediterranean Sea (see the comments on 17.10). Here the stress is not on how hot the wind is, but how strong it is when it blows down from the mountains on to the sea. Contemporary English Version says “strong eastern winds,” and New Living Translation has “mighty eastern gale.” This wind can cause severe storms that endanger all the boats and ships on the water (Greenberg). This strong wind wrecked, that is, “smashed” (New American Bible) or “broke” (New King James Version ), the “ship” of Tyre. In the heart of the seas refers again to the depths of the sea, giving a picture of the ship sinking to the bottom of the sea after it has been shipwrecked. A model for these two lines is “The east wind broke you and sent you to the bottom of the sea.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .