Add parallel Print Page Options

26 Another message came to me from the Lord on the first day of the month, in the eleventh year (after King Jehoiachin was taken away to captivity).

“Son of dust, Tyre has rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Ha! She who controlled the lucrative north-south trade routes along the coast and along the course of the Jordan River[a] has been broken, and I have fallen heir! Because she has been laid waste, I shall become wealthy!’”

Therefore the Lord God says: “I stand against you, Tyre, and I will bring nations against you like ocean waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down her towers. I will scrape away her soil and make her a bare rock! Her island shall become uninhabited, a place for fishermen to spread their nets, for I have spoken it,” says the Lord God. “Tyre shall become the prey of many nations, and her mainland city shall perish by the sword. Then they shall know I am the Lord.”

For the Lord God says: “I will bring Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—the king of kings from the north—against Tyre with a great army and cavalry and chariots. First he will destroy your suburbs; then he will attack your mainland city by building a siege wall and raising a roof of shields against it. He will set up battering rams against your walls and with sledgehammers demolish your forts. 10 The hoofs of his cavalry will choke the city with dust, and your walls will shake as the horses gallop through your broken gates, pulling chariots behind them. 11 Horsemen will occupy every street in the city; they will butcher your people, and your famous, huge pillars will topple.

12 “They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will destroy your lovely homes and dump your stones and timber and even your dust into the sea. 13 I will stop the music of your songs. No more will there be the sound of harps among you. 14 I will make your island a bare rock,[b] a place for fishermen to spread their nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the Lord, have spoken it.” So says the Lord. 15 “The whole country will shake with your fall; the wounded will scream as the slaughter goes on.

16 “Then all the seaport rulers shall come down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and beautiful garments and sit on the ground shaking with fear at what they have seen. 17 And they shall wail for you, singing this dirge: ‘O mighty island city, with your naval power that terrorized the mainland, how you have vanished from the seas! 18 How the islands tremble at your fall! They watch dismayed.’”

19 For the Lord God says: “I will destroy Tyre to the ground. You will sink beneath the terrible waves of enemy attack. Great seas shall swallow you. 20 I will send you to the pit of hell to lie there with those of long ago. Your city will lie in ruins, dead, like the bodies of those in the underworld who entered long ago the nether world of the dead. Never again will you be inhabited or be given beauty here in the land of those who live. 21 I will bring you to a dreadful end; no search will be enough to find you,” says the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 26:2 the course of the Jordan River, literally, “the gate of the peoples.”
  2. Ezekiel 26:14 I will make your island a bare rock. Certain aspects of vv. 12 and 14 exceed the actual damage done to Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar and foreshadow what happened to the island settlement later as a result of the conquest by Alexander the Great.

A Prophecy Against Tyre

26 In the eleventh month of the twelfth[a] year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me:(A) “Son of man, because Tyre(B) has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha!(C) The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’ therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea(D) casting up its waves. They will destroy(E) the walls of Tyre(F) and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. Out in the sea(G) she will become a place to spread fishnets,(H) for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. She will become plunder(I) for the nations,(J) and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar[b](K) king of Babylon, king of kings,(L) with horses and chariots,(M) with horsemen and a great army. He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works(N) against you, build a ramp(O) up to your walls and raise his shields against you. He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons.(P) 10 His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots(Q) when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through. 11 The hooves(R) of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars(S) will fall to the ground.(T) 12 They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea.(U) 13 I will put an end(V) to your noisy songs,(W) and the music of your harps(X) will be heard no more.(Y) 14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt,(Z) for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.

15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Will not the coastlands(AA) tremble(AB) at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan(AC) and the slaughter takes place in you? 16 Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered(AD) garments. Clothed(AE) with terror, they will sit on the ground,(AF) trembling(AG) every moment, appalled(AH) at you. 17 Then they will take up a lament(AI) concerning you and say to you:

“‘How you are destroyed, city of renown,
    peopled by men of the sea!
You were a power on the seas,
    you and your citizens;
you put your terror
    on all who lived there.(AJ)
18 Now the coastlands tremble(AK)
    on the day of your fall;
the islands in the sea
    are terrified at your collapse.’(AL)

19 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I make you a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths(AM) over you and its vast waters cover you,(AN) 20 then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit,(AO) to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place[c] in the land of the living.(AP) 21 I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more.(AQ) You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign Lord.”(AR)

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 26:1 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text does not have month of the twelfth.
  2. Ezekiel 26:7 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, of which Nebuchadnezzar is a variant; here and often in Ezekiel and Jeremiah
  3. Ezekiel 26:20 Septuagint; Hebrew return, and I will give glory