You were in Eden, the garden of God: The king of Tyre was so good and capable that God depicts him in the same light as Adam, the perfect man created by God in Eden, the garden of God. Eden is not usually called the garden of God in the Bible (compare Gen 2.8), but this phrase should not cause difficulty in translation. The comparison of the king of Tyre with Adam in Eden is hyperbole, in which God exaggerates to show how great the king was. New Century Version provides a good model for this line, saying “You had a wonderful life, as if you were in Eden, the garden of God.”
Every precious stone was your covering means the king “wore gems of every kind” (Good News Translation). It is not certain whether these gems were attached to his clothes, or whether they were what covered him like clothes. Some scholars have suggested that they were like a “hedge” (Anchor Bible) around him to protect him (see Micah 7.4, where a Hebrew word from the same root as covering clearly means “hedge”). One possible model for this line is “You adorned yourself [or, made yourself beautiful] with every kind of valuable and beautiful stone.”
Carnelian, topaz, and jasper, chrysolite, beryl, and onyx, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald: It is impossible to identify with certainty the nine precious stones listed here, as a comparison of any two or three translations shows. Still, some features can be identified, even if it is only their color, as in the following list. (Most of the information in the list is based on the article entitled “Jewels and Precious Stones” by I. H. Marshall in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, volume 2, pages 781-788. Also useful is the list of the gemstones on the High Priest’s breastplate.) Because of the variety in the names used to identify these gems, the Hebrew term for each of the gems is given first to ensure that readers are not confused by the different translations.
(1) ʾOdem (carnelian) is a dark red stone. “Rubies” (Good News Translation) are also red, but they were not known in the ancient Near East.
(2) Pitdah (topaz) is a transparent crystal, usually yellow, light brown, or pale green in color.
(3) Yahalom (jasper) is unknown, but the Hebrew suggests that it is a very hard stone. Some translations suggest it is white “moonstone” (New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation), although the Septuagint identified it as a green jewel.
(4) Tarshish (chrysolite) is probably Spanish gold topaz, not the green “beryl” (Good News Translation) with which it is often confused (see the comments on 1.16). The Septuagint identified it as a golden stone.
(5) Shoham (beryl) is probably a type of quartz that is pale blue or grey with alternating dark and light streaks. It is best identified as “onyx” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible).
(6) Yashefeh (onyx) is a near transparent green jewel, usually identified as “jasper” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).
(7) Sapir (sapphire) refers to the dark blue “lapis lazuli” (New Living Translation), a gem from China that was very popular in ancient jewelry (see the comments on 1.26). The modern blue jewel sapphire was not known in Old Testament times.
(8) Nofek (carbuncle) may be a green stone like an “emerald” (Good News Translation, King James Version; see the comments on 27.16, where this Hebrew word is rendered “emeralds”), but because the Septuagint identified it as a “burning coal,” some scholars think it might be a reddish-purple stone like the “garnet” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) or a deep red “carbuncle” (Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible).
(9) Barqath (emerald) is probably a bright green stone.
Many cultures may be unfamiliar with some or most of these gems. If so, translators may choose a comparable, well-known gem, or say “a [precious] stone called…,” or simply identify the color of the stone. On the other hand, Contemporary English Version omits the names of the individual gems, saying “jewelry made of brightly colored gems and precious stones.” This rendering is also acceptable and is recommended where readers would otherwise lose track of the flow of the discourse, due to the piling up of unfamiliar names.
And wrought in gold were your settings and your engravings: The meaning of these two lines in Hebrew is very unclear. To begin with, the editors of the Hebrew Bible, the Masoretes, punctuated the text so that gold is the tenth item on the list of precious stones (so King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible). But this reading causes the next few words to be almost meaningless grammatically, so most other translations (even as early as the Septuagint) punctuate it differently and take gold with the words that come after it. But the meaning of some of these words is not clear either. The Hebrew word for settings (so also New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New American Standard Bible) is also rendered “jingling beads” (Revised English Bible), “ear-pendants” (New Jerusalem Bible; similarly New American Bible), and “timbrels” (New King James Version ; similarly King James Version, Jerusalem Bible, Anchor Bible); and the word for engravings (so also New Revised Standard Version) is also translated “mountings” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version), “spangles” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), “jewels” (New American Bible), “sockets” (New American Standard Bible), “pipes” (King James Version / New King James Version), “flutes” (Jerusalem Bible), and “settings” (Anchor Bible). Faced with such uncertainty of meaning, other translators avoid the individual words and make a guess at the meaning of these two lines; for example, Contemporary English Version has “They were all set in gold,” New Century Version says “Your jewelry was made of gold,” and Good News Translation translates “You had ornaments of gold.” Besides the word for gold, the only other Hebrew word in these lines that is reasonably certain is the one rendered wrought; it refers to making something, or the “workmanship” (King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible) involved in making it. Any interpretation of these difficult lines is likely to involve guesses, but there are a few possibilities that seem better than others. The Hebrew word for settings usually means “timbrels/tambourines” and is used in Jer 31.4 to refer to ornaments worn by dancers—these may have been miniature tambourines worn as earrings (so New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). Alternatively, the word may come from a root that means “beautiful” (so New Living Translation and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh with “beautifully [crafted/wrought]”). The Hebrew word for engravings is used only here in the Old Testament, but it seems to be connected with a word meaning “pierce” or “make holes.” It might then have a number of possible meanings related to this as follows: (1) musical instruments with holes in them to blow through (so Jerusalem Bible with “flutes” and King James Version / New King James Version with “pipes”), which fits well with the tambourines; (2) holes in the gold in which the jewels were set (so New American Standard Bible with “sockets” and New International Version with “mountings”); or (3) the actual engraving on the gold (so Revised Standard Version). Some possible models that translators can follow for these two lines are “Your tambourine and flute pendants were made of gold,” “Your tambourine pendants and the settings for your gems were made of gold,” “They [the gems] were beautifully made for you and set in gold,” and “and beautifully made and engraved gold.” The last model adds to the list of gems.
On the day that you were created they were prepared means the gems and items of gold were made on the day the king of Tyre was born. These two lines indicate that he was destined for greatness from the time he was born. The word created is used to remind the hearers of the story in Genesis. For those languages without passive verbs, God may be inserted as the subject of both verbs here by saying “I [God] made them for you on the day I created you.”
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 .