Expert: Dean Gade - 4/18/2006

Question
Ezekial 28:13- in the King James version the last sentence of the verse says: "the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created". Many people believe that the words "tabrets" and "pipes" refer to musical instruments. In a more modern translation, it says "Of gold your pendants and jewels were made, on the day you were created". So, one translation renders those two words as musical instruments and another translation renders them as jewelry. Which is right and why the confusion?

Answer
It's actually a little of each:

The tabret was a tamborine from a Hebrew word which means "drum".

The translation of "pipes" is a bit strange. The Hebrew word, NEQEB, means a bezel, a cutting slant edge cutting tool used for cutting gems.

Why this latter is translated as a musical instrument, I don't know.  The word "neqeb" is used in the Bible ONLY in this place so we can't even find out how it is used in other context.

That's the best I can do for you on this one.