Ver. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they [were] thy merchants
Javan designs Greece, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it; especially that part of it called Ionia, from Javan the son of Japheth, ( Genesis 10:2 ) and Tubal, and Meshech, were also sons of Japheth; the former are the Iberi and Albanians, as Jerom and others, among whom were a city called Thabilaca, by Ptolemy F23; and the latter the Cappadocians, with whom is a city called Mazaca F24. They traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy markets;
or, "the souls of men" F25; they bought up men and women in the several countries to which they belonged, or where they traded, and brought them to Tyre, and sold them for slaves; and the Ionian and Grecian slaves were had in great esteem: and the best brass, of which vessels were made, was had from Corinth, Delus, and Aeginetus; according to Pliny F26, Cappadocia was famous for it also: in the first of these merchandises Tyrus was remarkably a type of antichrist, who is said to deal in such wares, the souls of men, ( Revelation 18:13 ) . The word here rendered "markets", Gussetius F1 also observes, does not design the place of commerce, but the act of negotiation or trade; and so it is rendered by many F2.