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Chapter 23

Tyre and Sidon

    [a]Oracle on Tyre:
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
    for your port is destroyed;
From the land of the Kittim[b]
    the news reaches them.(A)
Silence! you who dwell on the coast,
    you merchants of Sidon,
Whose messengers crossed the sea
    over the deep waters,
Whose revenue was the grain of Shihor,[c] the harvest of the Nile,
    you who were the merchant among the nations.(B)
Be ashamed, Sidon, fortress on the sea,
    for the sea[d] has spoken,
“I have not been in labor, nor given birth,
    nor raised young men,
    nor reared young women.”
When the report reaches Egypt
    they shall be in anguish at the report about Tyre.
Pass over to Tarshish,[e]
    wail, you who dwell on the coast!
Is this your exultant city,
    whose origin is from old,
Whose feet have taken her
    to dwell in distant lands?
Who has planned such a thing
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants are princes,
    whose traders are the earth’s honored men?
The Lord of hosts has planned it,
    to disgrace the height of all beauty,
    to degrade all the honored of the earth.(C)
10 Cross to your own land,
    ship of Tarshish;
    the harbor is no more.
11 His hand he stretches out over the sea,
    he shakes kingdoms;
The Lord commanded the destruction
    of Canaan’s strongholds:[f](D)
12 Crushed, you shall exult no more,
    virgin daughter Sidon.
Arise, pass over to the Kittim,
    even there you shall find no rest.(E)
13 [g]Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
    the people that has ceased to be.
Assyria founded it for ships,
    raised its towers,
Only to tear down its palaces,
    and turn it into a ruin.(F)
14 Lament, ships of Tarshish,
    for your stronghold is destroyed.

15 On that day, Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years,[h] the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, the song about the prostitute will be Tyre’s song:

16 Take a harp, go about the city,
    forgotten prostitute;
Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
    that you may be remembered.

17 At the end of the seventy years the Lord shall visit Tyre. She shall return to her hire and serve as prostitute[i] with all the world’s kingdoms on the face of the earth.(G) 18 But her merchandise and her hire shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be stored up or laid away; instead, her merchandise shall belong to those who dwell before the Lord, to eat their fill and clothe themselves in choice attire.

Footnotes

  1. 23:1–17 This oracle, a satire directed against the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, is perhaps to be situated at the time of Sennacherib’s campaign against the Phoenican cities in 701 B.C, following his subjugation of their Babylonian allies in 703 B.C.
  2. 23:1 Kittim: Cyprus. The Hebrew word is derived from the term for the well-known city of Cyprus, Kition. In later centuries the term Kittim is used for the Greeks, the Romans, and other distant peoples.
  3. 23:3 Shihor: a synonym for the Nile.
  4. 23:4 The sea: here personified, it brings to distant coasts the news that Sidon must disown her children; her people are dispersed.
  5. 23:6–7 Tarshish: perhaps Tartessus in Spain. Distant lands: the reference is to the far-flung colonies established by the Phoenicians throughout the Mediterranean, including North Africa, Spain, and Sardinia. Oceangoing vessels were therefore called Tarshish ships.
  6. 23:11 Canaan’s strongholds: the fortresses of Phoenicia.
  7. 23:13 The reference here seems to be to Assyria’s subjugation of Babylon in 703 B.C., which left the coastal cities of Phoenicia as well as Judah open to Sennacherib’s invasion in 701 B.C. Founded it…its palaces…turn it: the city of Babylon.
  8. 23:15 Seventy years: a conventional expression for a long period of time; cf. Jer 25:11 and 29:10.
  9. 23:17–18 Her hire…prostitute: the international trade engaged in by Tyre will become a source of wealth to God’s people (cf. 45:14; 60:4–14; Zec 14:14).

Chapter 26

Against the City of Tyre. [a]On the first day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year, the word of the Lord came to me:

[b]Son of man, because Tyre said of Jerusalem:
“Aha! The gateway of the peoples is smashed!
    It has been turned over to me;
    I will be enriched by its ruin!”(A)
    therefore thus says the Lord God:
See! I am coming against you, Tyre;
    I will churn up against you many nations,
    just as the sea churns up its waves.
They will destroy the walls of Tyre
    and tear down its towers;
I will scrape off its debris
    and leave it a bare rock.[c]
It will become a place for drying nets
    in the midst of the sea.
For I have spoken—oracle of the Lord God:
    she will become plunder for the nations.
Her daughter cities[d] on the mainland
    will be slaughtered by the sword;
    then they shall know that I am the Lord.
Indeed thus says the Lord God:
I am bringing up against Tyre
    from the north, Nebuchadnezzar,
King of Babylon, king of kings,
    with horses and chariots, with cavalry,
    and a mighty horde of troops.(B)
Your daughter cities on the mainland
    he shall slay with the sword.
He shall build a siege wall around you,
    throw up a ramp against you,
    and raise his shields about you.
He shall pound your walls with battering-rams
    and break down your towers with his axes.
10 From the surging of his horses
    he will cover you with dust;
    from the noise of warhorses,
    wheels and chariots.
Your walls will shake
    when he enters your gates,
    even as one enters a city that is breached.
11 With the hooves of his horses
    he will trample all your streets;
Your people he will slay by the sword;
    your mighty pillars will collapse.(C)
12 They shall plunder your wealth
    and pillage your goods;
They will tear down your walls
    and demolish your splendid houses.
Your stones, timbers, and debris
    they will cast into the sea.
13 I will bring an end to the noise of your songs;
    the music of your lyres will be heard no more.
14 I will turn you into bare rock,
    you will become a place for drying nets.
You shall never be rebuilt,
    for I the Lord have spoken—
    oracle of the Lord God.
15 Thus says the Lord God to Tyre:
At the sound of your downfall,
    at the groaning of the wounded,
When victims are slain within you,
    will the islands not quake?
16 All the princes of the sea[e]
    will step down from their thrones,
Lay aside their robes,
    and strip off their embroidered garments.
Clothed in mourning,
    they will sit on the ground
And tremble, horror-struck
    and appalled at you.(D)
17 They will raise lament[f] over you
    and say to you:
How you have perished,
    gone from the seas,
    Renowned City!
Once she was mighty on the sea,
    she and her inhabitants,
Those who spread their terror
    to all who dwelt nearby.(E)
18 On this, the day of your fall,
    the islands quake!
The islands in the sea
    are terrified at your passing.
19 Indeed thus says the Lord God:
When I make you a ruined city
    like cities no longer inhabited,
When I churn up the deep
    and its mighty waters cover you,
20 Then I will thrust you down
    with those who go down to the pit,[g]
    to those of the bygone age;
I will make you dwell in the netherworld,
    in the everlasting ruins,
    with those who have gone down to the pit,
So you will never return
    or have a place in the land of the living.(F)
21 I will make you a horror,
    and you shall be no more;
You shall be sought for,
    but never found again—
    oracle of the Lord God.

Chapter 27

The Ship Tyre. The word of the Lord came to me: You, son of man, raise a lament over Tyre, and say to Tyre, who sits at the entrance to the sea, trader to peoples on many coastlands, Thus says the Lord God:

Tyre, you said, “I am a ship,
    perfect in beauty”;(G)
In the heart of the sea was your territory;
    your builders perfected your beauty.(H)
With juniper wood from Senir[h]
    they built all your decks;
A cedar from Lebanon they took
    to make you a mast.
With oaks of Bashan[i]
    they fashioned your oars,
Your bridge, of ivory-inlaid cypress wood
    from the coasts of Kittim.
Fine embroidered linen from Egypt
    became your sail;
Your awnings were made of purple and scarlet
    from the coasts of Elishah.[j](I)
Inhabitants of Sidon[k] and Arvad
    were your oarsmen;
Your own sages, Tyre, were on board,
    serving as your sailors.(J)
The elders and sages of Gebal
    were with you to caulk your seams.
Every ship and sailor on the sea
    came to you to carry on trade.(K)
10 Persia and Lud and Put
    were warriors in your army;
Shield and helmet they hung on you
    to enhance your splendor.
11 The men of Arvad and Helech[l]
    were on your walls all around
And Gamadites on your towers;
    they hung their shields around your walls,
    they made your beauty perfect.
12 Tarshish traded with you,
    so great was your wealth,
Exchanging for your wares
    silver, iron, tin, and lead.
13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech
    also traded with you,
Exchanging slaves and bronze vessels
    for your merchandise.(L)
14 Horses, steeds, and mules from Beth-togarmah
    were exchanged for your wares.
15 Men of Rhodes trafficked with you;
    many coastlands were your agents;
Ivory tusks and ebony wood
    they brought back as your payment.
16 Edom traded with you for your many wares:
    garnets, purple dye, embroidered cloth,
Fine linen, coral, and rubies
    they gave you as merchandise.
17 Judah and the land of Israel
    trafficked with you:
Minnith wheat, grain,[m] honey, oil, and balm(M)
    they gave you as merchandise.
18 Damascus traded with you for your many wares,
    so great was your wealth,
    exchanging Helbon wine and Zahar wool.
19 Javan exchanged wrought iron, cassia, and aromatic cane
    from Uzal for your wares.
20 Dedan traded with you for riding gear.(N)
21 Arabia and the sheikhs of Kedar were your agents,
    dealing in lambs, rams, and goats.(O)
22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah also traded with you,
    exchanging for your wares the very best spices,
    all kinds of precious stones, and gold.
23 Haran, Canneh, and Eden,
    the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad,
24 Traded with you, marketing rich garments,
    purple cloth, embroidered fabric,
    varicolored carpets, and braided cords.
25 The ships of Tarshish sailed for you with your goods;
You were full and heavily laden
    in the heart of the sea.
26 Out into deep waters
    your oarsmen brought you;
The east wind shattered you
    in the heart of the sea.(P)
27 Your wealth, your goods, your wares,
    your sailors, your crew,
The caulkers of your seams,
    those who traded for your goods,
All the warriors with you,
    the whole crowd with you
Sank into the heart of the sea
    on the day of your downfall.(Q)
28 At the sound of your sailors’ shouts
    the waves shudder,(R)
29 Down from their ships
    come all who ply the oars;
Sailors, all the seafaring crew,
    stand on the shore.
30 They raise their voices over you
    and shout their bitter cries;
They pour dust on their heads
    and cover themselves with ashes.
31 For you they shave their heads bald
    and put on sackcloth;
For you they weep bitterly,
    in anguished lament.(S)
32 They raise a lament for you;
    they wail over you:
“Who was ever destroyed like Tyre
    in the midst of the sea?”(T)
33 By exporting your goods by sea
    you satisfied many peoples,
With your great wealth and merchandise
    you enriched the kings of the earth.(U)
34 Now you are wrecked in the sea,
    in the watery depths;
Your wares and all your crew
    have fallen down with you.
35 All who dwell on the coastlands
    are aghast over you;
Their kings are terrified,
    their faces distorted.
36 The traders among the peoples
    now hiss at you;
You have become a horror,
    you shall be no more.

Chapter 28

The Prince of Tyre. [n]The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God:

Because you are haughty of heart,
    you say, “I am a god!
I sit on a god’s throne
    in the heart of the sea!”
But you are a man, not a god;
    yet you pretend
    you are a god at heart!
Oh yes, you are wiser than Daniel,[o]
    nothing secret is too obscure for you!(V)
By your wisdom and intelligence
    you made yourself rich,
    filling your treasuries with gold and silver.
Through your great wisdom in trading
    you heaped up riches for yourself—
    your heart is haughty because of your riches.
    Therefore thus says the Lord God:
Because you pretend you are a god at heart,
Therefore, I will bring against you
    strangers, the most bloodthirsty of nations.
They shall draw their swords
    against your splendid wisdom,
    and violate your radiance.(W)
They shall thrust you down into the pit:
    you shall die a violent death
    in the heart of the sea.
Then, face to face with your killers,
    will you still say, “I am a god”?
No, you are a man, not a god,
    handed over to those who slay you.
10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
    handed over to strangers,
    for I have spoken—oracle of the Lord God.(X)

11 The word of the Lord came to me: 12 Son of man, raise a lament over the king of Tyre, and say to him: Thus says the Lord God:

[p] You were a seal of perfection,
    full of wisdom, perfect in beauty.(Y)
13 In Eden, the garden of God, you lived;
    precious stones of every kind were your covering:
Carnelian, topaz, and beryl,
    chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,
    sapphire, garnet, and emerald.
Their mounts and settings
    were wrought in gold,
    fashioned for you the day you were created.(Z)
14 With a cherub I placed you;
    I put you on the holy mountain of God,[q]
    where you walked among fiery stones.
15 Blameless were you in your ways
    from the day you were created,
Until evil was found in you.
16     Your commerce was full of lawlessness, and you sinned.
Therefore I banished you from the mountain of God;
    the cherub drove you out
    from among the fiery stones.(AA)
17 Your heart had grown haughty
    because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom
    because of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground,
    I made you a spectacle
    in the sight of kings.(AB)
18 Because of the enormity of your guilt,
    and the perversity of your trade,
    you defiled your sanctuary.
I brought fire out of you;
    it devoured you;
I made you ashes on the ground
    in the eyes of all who see you.(AC)
19 All the nations who knew you
    are appalled on account of you;
You have become a horror,
    never to be again.(AD)

Against Sidon. 20 The word of the Lord came to me: 21 Son of man, turn your face toward Sidon and prophesy against it. 22 Thus says the Lord God:

Watch out! I am against you, Sidon;
    I will win glory for myself in your midst.
They shall know that I am the Lord,
    when I deliver judgment upon it
    and manifest my holiness in it.
23 I will send disease into it;
    blood will fill its streets,
Within it shall fall
    those slain by the sword
    raised against it on every side.
Then they shall know that I am the Lord.
24 No longer will there be a thorn that tears
    or a brier that scratches for the house of Israel
From the surrounding neighbors
    who despise them;
    thus they shall know that I am the Lord.(AE)

25 Thus says the Lord God: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and I manifest my holiness through them in the sight of the nations, then they shall live on the land I gave my servant Jacob.(AF) 26 They shall dwell on it securely, building houses and planting vineyards. They shall dwell securely while I execute judgment on all their neighbors who treated them with contempt; then they shall know that I, the Lord, am their God.(AG)

Footnotes

  1. 26:1 The Hebrew text does not give a number with the month. This translation assumes a scribal error, the omission of the second occurrence of the number eleven.
  2. 26:2 Tyre is pictured rejoicing over Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon because now the wealth from caravans and other trade will go to Tyrian merchants.
  3. 26:4–5 A bare rock: the Tyre of Ezekiel’s time was situated on a rocky island just off the Phoenician coast. During the time of Alexander the Great a causeway was built to connect it to the mainland.
  4. 26:6 Daughter cities: tributary towns and villages on the mainland.
  5. 26:16 The princes of the sea: the rulers of the islands and coastal cities leagued commercially with Tyre.
  6. 26:17 Lament: the princes sing a funeral dirge at the burial of the personified Tyre; cf. the similar lamentation over Egypt in 32:3–8.
  7. 26:20 Those who go down to the pit: the dead, pictured as dwelling in Sheol, a place or cave of darkness. Cf. 32:17–32; Is 14:4–21 for other examples.
  8. 27:5 Senir: another name for Mount Hermon; cf. Dt 3:9.
  9. 27:6 Bashan: an area in northern Transjordan, noted for its lush growth and great forests (cf. Is 2:13). Kittim: here, probably Cyprus.
  10. 27:7 Elishah: perhaps another term for Cyprus.
  11. 27:8–9 Sidon…Gebal: Phoenician cities in Tyre’s orbit of influence; Gebal is classical Byblos.
  12. 27:11 Helech: perhaps in Asia Minor; otherwise unknown.
  13. 27:17 Grain: most commentators have read “figs,” but Hebrew panag more properly describes milled grains or prepared meal.
  14. 28:1–10 Ezekiel mocks the arrogance of Tyre’s leader, who mistakes the city’s commercial success for evidence of his divinity. At the hands of a foreign army, commissioned by the only God worthy of the name, this leader dies a humiliating, unceremonious death.
  15. 28:3 Wiser than Daniel: see note on 14:14.
  16. 28:12–19 Ezekiel describes the leader of Tyre in language that recalls the imagery of Gn 2–3.
  17. 28:14 The holy mountain of God: the residence of gods in Israelite and non-Israelite myth; cf. Is 14:13. Fiery stones: associated with the divine presence; cf. Ez 1:13; Ps 18:13.

The sun will darken,
    the moon turn blood-red,
Before the day of the Lord arrives,
    that great and terrible day.(A)
Then everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
    will escape harm.
For on Mount Zion there will be a remnant,
    as the Lord has said,
And in Jerusalem survivors
    whom the Lord will summon.(B)

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I. Editorial Introduction

Chapter 1

The words of Amos, who was one of the sheepbreeders from Tekoa,(A) which he received in a vision concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.[a] He said:

The Lord roars from Zion,[b]
    and raises his voice from Jerusalem;
The pastures of the shepherds languish,
    and the summit of Carmel withers.(B)

II. Oracles Against the Nations[c]

Aram

Thus says the Lord:

For three crimes of Damascus, and now four—[d]
    I will not take it back—
Because they threshed Gilead
    with sledges of iron,
I will send fire upon the house of Hazael,
    and it will devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.[e](C)
I will break the barred gate of Damascus;
    From the Valley of Aven[f] I will cut off the one enthroned,
And the sceptered ruler from Beth-eden;
    the people of Aram shall be exiled to Kir,(D) says the Lord.

Philistia

Thus says the Lord:

For three crimes of Gaza, and now four—
    I will not take it back—
Because they exiled an entire population,
    handing them over to Edom,
I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza,
    and it will devour its strongholds;
From Ashdod I will cut off the one enthroned
    and the sceptered ruler from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
    and the last of the Philistines shall perish,
    says the Lord God.

Tyre

Thus says the Lord:

For three crimes of Tyre, and now four—
    I will not take it back—
Because they handed over an entire population to Edom,
    and did not remember their covenant of brotherhood,[g]
10 I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre,
    and it will devour its strongholds.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:1 The earthquake: a major earthquake during the reign of Uzziah (ca. 783–742 B.C.), so devastating that it was remembered long afterwards (cf. Zec 14:5). See the description of an earthquake in Amos’s final vision (9:1).
  2. 1:2 Significantly, the roar comes to the Northern Kingdom from Jerusalem. This verse, perhaps an editorial remark, sets the tone of Amos’s message.
  3. 1:3–2:16 All the nations mentioned here may have been part of the ideal empire of David-Solomon (cf. 1 Kgs 5:1; 2 Kgs 14:25). Certain standards of conduct were expected not only in their relations with Israel but also with one another.
  4. 1:3 For three crimes…and now four: this formula (n, n + 1) is frequent in poetry (e.g., Prv 6:16–19; 30:18–19). The progression “three” followed by “four” here suggests a climax. The fourth crime is one too many and exhausts the Lord’s forbearance.
  5. 1:4 Hazael…Ben-hadad: kings of the Arameans whose capital was Damascus (v. 5); they fought against Israel (2 Kgs 13:3) and had long occupied the region of Gilead (v. 3) in Transjordan.
  6. 1:5 Valley of Aven: lit., “valley of wickedness,” perhaps a distortion of a place name in Aramean territory, identity unknown. Beth-eden: an Aramean city-state on the Euphrates, about two hundred miles northeast of Damascus, called Bit-adini in Assyro-Babylonian texts. Kir: cf. 9:7; probably to be identified with the city of Emar on the Euphrates, a major Aramean center in the Late Bronze Age. One text from this site calls the king of Emar “the king of the people of the land of Kir.”
  7. 1:9 Did not remember their covenant of brotherhood: standard diplomatic language of this period, meaning “violated the treaty.” The violation may not have been against Israel itself but against a fellow “subject” nation of the ideal Davidic-Solomonic empire (cf. 2:1).

Hamath also on its border,
    Tyre too, and Sidon, no matter how clever they be.
Tyre built itself a stronghold,
    and heaped up silver like dust,
    and gold like the mud of the streets.
But now the Lord will dispossess it,
    and cast its wealth into the sea,
    and it will be devoured by fire.

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