By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your wealth: God stresses the king of Tyre’s wisdom by repeating it here, adding the detail that he had “great skill in trading” (New International Reader’s Version), that is, he was a “clever businessman” (Contemporary English Version), and he used his business skills to become even richer. There is a nice play on words here in Hebrew, which is literally “By the bigness of your skill in trading you made big your wealth.” Translators will do well if they can reflect this wordplay in their renderings. In some languages they will need to restructure these two lines, for example, “You know how to do business very well. That is how you became so wealthy [or, rich].”

And your heart has become proud in your wealth: Here God returns to the king’s sin of pride (see Ezek 28.2). This line means the king has become very rich and has started boasting about it (compare Contemporary English Version “your wealth has led to arrogance”). Probably he claimed all the credit for himself. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch uses idiomatic language here, saying “But your riches have gone to your head; you are arrogant.” Another possible model is “You have become very proud because you are so rich.”

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 .