a seat of God he made for himself in the air, over the sea, with a mechanism that was a replica of seven heavens, and he sat down on the highest one.

Behold, are you wiser than Daniel [As for] Daniel Nebuchadnezzar came to make him a god (Dan. 2:46): “and prostrated himself before Daniel, and ordered that they should offer a meal offering and sacrifices of sweet odors to him,” but he did not accept it upon himself, yet you make yourself a God?

that no secret is hidden from you [Heb. לֹא עֲמָמוּךָ,] is not hidden from you. These are taunts [by] which he is taunting; that is to say: Perhaps you are as wise as Daniel, about whom it is stated: (Dan. 4: 6): “and no secret overwhelms you?”

did you acquire wealth for yourself [Heb. עָשִיתָ לְךָ חָיִל. lit. did you make.] Did you acquire property for yourself?

and gather gold and silver [Heb. וְתַעַשּׂ,] and gather.

and they will draw their swords [This is to be understood] according to its apparent meaning. [According to] Midrash Aggadah (see Mechilta to Exod. 15:9; Tan. Va’era 9), it means homosexuality, for he was used sexually as women are. Three pretended to be gods and were sexually molested like women: Joash the son of Ahaziah, as it is said (II Chron. 24:24): “and upon Joash they exacted judgment,” Hiram, and Nebuchadnezzar.

your brightness [Heb. יִפְעָתֶךָ,] your brightness, an expression of the appearance of the countenance. The Medrash interprets it as “the beauty of your time (יְפֵה עִתֶּךָ) .”

your slayer [Heb. מְחַלְלֶךָ,] like הוֹרְגֶךָ.

You are the one who engraves images, etc. You are full of the wisdom to seal and to stamp every pattern and shape.

images [Heb. תָּכְנִית,] peinture in French, painting, engraving.

In Eden, the garden of God With much goodness and pleasure. You enjoy yourself as if you were dwelling in Eden, the garden of God. All wealth, pride, and honor are given to you: all precious stones are set on your raiment.

your covering Your canopy. Another explanation: Your raiment.

the work of your drums and your orifices Although I gave you all this honor, I knew that you would become haughty, and I made in you the work of the perforated drums that let out wind with an instrumental sound like a drum, and these are what you should have contemplated about.

You are a cherub of great measure, that covers You are a bird of measure, i.e., the huge bird that covers a large area with his wings; i.e., you rule over a large dominion. מִמְשַּׁח is a word for largeness, like (Num. 13:32): “men of stature (אַנְשֵּׁי מִדוֹת).” which is translated into Aramaic as גַבְרֵי דְמִשְּׂחָן.

and I gave that to you; you were on the mount of the sanctuary of God and I gave you a place to acquire a name for yourself in the edifice of the mountain of My sanctuary, for you assisted Solomon with the cedar wood.

you walked among stones of fire You acquired for yourself a memorial with the kings of Israel, who are like the ministering angels.

until wrongdoing was found in you in your saying, “I am a god.”

they filled [Heb. מָלוּ, like מָלְאוּ,] they filled.

and I shall cast you as profane You caused me to eradicate you, so that you shall no longer be remembered concerning the building of My House.

and I shall destroy you [Heb. וָאַבֶּדְךָ,] like וָאֲאַבֶּדְךָ and I shall destroy you.

from among the stones of fire that you shall not take a share with the righteous. Our Rabbis in the Midrash Aggadah (B. B. 75a) interpreted this section as referring to Adam: So said the prophet to Hiram, “Why should you be proud of your sky? Were you in the Garden of Eden, as Adam was? [13] every precious stone, etc. For I made all these canopies for Adam, and the least of them was gold, which is counted last. the work of your drums, etc. With this, I made you equal to him, but not with anything else, and I pondered over you and created drums and orifices in Adam. [14] Are you a cherub of great measure Are you like that cherub that was great in measure, whose great wingspan covered from one end of heaven completely to the other end of heaven, and did I place you to be on the holy mountains as I placed him?

you destroyed your wisdom with your brightness for you were proud of your brightness.

to gaze upon you [Heb. לְרַאֲוָה בָּך] to gaze upon your shame; לְרַאֲוָה is like לִרְאִיָה, to see.

you profaned your sanctity [Heb. מִקְדָשֶׁךָ,] your sanctity.

fire out of your midst Haughty words that came out of your mouth, saying, “I am a god.” Another explanation: [It is to be interpreted] according to the Targum: And I brought forth peoples as strong as fire because of your arrogant sins.

will wander [Heb. שָּׁמְמוּ.] will wonder.

and they will judge themselves as slain in her midst by the sword [coming] upon her from all around Because they will see the sword surrounding [them] from outside, the people of the city will assess [the situation] and be sure that they will be slain in her midst.

[Heb. וְנִפְלַל,] like (Gen. 48:11): “I did not think (פִלָּלְתִּי),” and like (Deut. 32:31): “and our enemies judge (פְּלִילִים).” They will judge themselves to be slain in her midst.

And there will no longer be to the house of Israel, etc. Since he prophesied about Ammon, Moab, the Philistines, Edom, Tyre, and Zidon, who are the neighbors of the land of Israel, that they would be destroyed. Since they all will be destroyed, there will not be a briar or a thorn to [the people of Israel, in all their surroundings, to pain or harm them.

briars [Heb. סִילוֹן,] a species of thistles and thorns.

pricking [Heb. מַמְאִיר,] a matter of hurting, like (Lev. 13:51): “painful (מַמְאֶרֶת) zaarath,” poignante in French, stinging, pricking.

who plunder them [Heb. הַשָּׁאטִים,] who plunder them.

to My servant, to Jacob As it was given to Jacob, an inheritance without boundaries (Gen. 28: 14): “and you will spread out toward the west and the east, toward the north and the south.”