Bible Dictionary
Fairs
“Fairs” in the King James Version of Ezekiel 27 refers to merchandise or wares, not modern fairs or marketplaces. The Revised Version consistently translates the underlying word as “wares.”
Definition
“Fairs” in the Authorized Version of Ezekiel 27 is an old rendering of a Hebrew word meaning “wares” or merchandise. It does not refer to fairs in the modern sense.
Biblical Usage
The word occurs repeatedly in Ezekiel 27 in descriptions of the merchandise traded by Tyre.
Historical Background
The Revised Version consistently renders the term “wares.” The Septuagint uses words meaning marketplace, hire, or pay in the passages where the Authorized Version has “fairs.”
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Heb. ‘izabhonim), found seven times in Ezek. 27, and nowhere else. The Authorized Version renders the word thus in all these instances, except in verse 33, where “wares” is used. The Revised Version uniformly renders by “wares,” which is the correct rendering of the Hebrew word. It never means “fairs” in the modern sense of the word.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
a word which occurs only in (Ezekiel 27:1) ... and there no less than seven times, vs. (Ezekiel 27:12,14,16,19,22,27,33) in the last of these verses it is rendered “wares,” and this we believe to be the true meaning of the word throughout.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>farz: Found only 5 times in the King James Version (Eze 27:12,14,16,19,27), apparently incorrect translation of `izzabhon, according to modern Hebraists (though Gesenius gives "fair" as one of its meanings). The Septuagint translates the Hebrew of the above five passages by two different words, agora, "market-place" (Eze 27:12,14,16,19), and misthos, "hire," "pay" (Eze 27:27,33). The King James Version follows the Wyclif version in Eze 27:12 and the Geneva version throughout, although it properly translates "wares" in Eze 27:33. the Revised Version (British and American) gives "wares" (which see) throughout.</p>