This verse drops the picture of Tyre as a ship and refers to Tyre the city.

The men of Arvad and Helech were upon your walls round about, and men of Gamad were in your towers: Arvad is the same city that provided the rowers (see Ezek 27.8), but we do not know where Helech and Gamad were. Some scholars think Helech was the region of “Cilicia” (Contemporary English Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible), which was in the south of present-day Turkey, and Gamad was a town somewhere in Syria. But Helech may not be a place name at all. The Hebrew word for Helech is identical in form to the word translated “your army” in verse 10, so it may simply mean refer to Tyre’s army. This makes perfectly good sense, with soldiers from Arvad joining with Tyre’s own soldiers upon your walls round about, that is, to guard the walls of the city (compare New King James Version for the first clause of this verse, which reads “Men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around”; similarly King James Version, New American Standard Bible). Although both interpretations are acceptable, it is probably better to refer to Tyre’s army. Translators should not follow Good News Translation here, which omits any reference to Helech or Tyre’s army. Men of Gamad were in your towers means soldiers from Gamad guarded the city of Tyre from its watchtowers. For towers see 26.4.

They hung their shields upon your walls round about: The soldiers guarding Tyre hung their weapons on the walls of the city (compare verse 10). The Hebrew word for shields is different from the one used in verse 10. Although most translations render it “shields,” it more likely means “quivers [of arrows]” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; so Greenberg) or, more generally, “weapons” (Contemporary English Version, Allen). A quiver is a container to hold and carry arrows.

They made perfect your beauty: By hanging their weapons on the walls of the city, the soldiers made the city of Tyre look very beautiful (compare verse 10). This clause echoes Tyre’s boast in verse 3 about being the most beautiful city in the world (see the comments there). Here it says the soldiers were one of the reasons Tyre had become so great and beautiful. This repetition ties verses 1-11 together and separates them from the next subunit (verses 12-25a), which is different in style.

Here is a model for verses 10-11:

• 10 Soldiers from Persia, Lydia and Libya served in your army. They hung their shields and helmets on your sides and made you beautiful. 11 Soldiers from Arvad were with your army on the walls of the city, and soldiers from Gamad were in the towers to guard the city. They hung their weapons all around your walls and made you perfectly beautiful.

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 .