Ezekiel 27:21

occupied with thee Lit. were the merchants of thy hand, i.e. serving thee. Cf. Isaiah 60:7, "all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee." The Arab nomads were rich in flocks. Kedar (Genesis 25:13, second son of Ishmael) was an important people toward the N. of Arabia. In Isaiah 60:7 they are named along with the Nabatheans; in Jeremiah 49:28 they are threatened with destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, as they were threatened at an earlier time with an attack from the Assyrians (Isaiah 21:16). Outside of scripture they are mentioned first in the inscriptions of Assurbanipal (667 626 b.c.), where they are represented as dwelling between the gulf of Akaba and Babylon. Cf. the ref. Jeremiah 2:10.