27 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,
2 Now you, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre,
3 And say to Tyre, O you who dwell at the entrance to the sea, who are merchant of the peoples of many islands and coastlands, thus says the Lord God: O Tyre, you have thought and said, I am perfect in beauty.
4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty.
5 They have made all your planks and boards of fir trees from Senir [a peak of Mount Hermon]; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.
6 Of the oaks of Bashan they have made your oars; they have made your deck and benches of boxwood from the coasts of Cyprus, inlaid with ivory.
7 Of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be an ensign for you; blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah [of Asia Minor] was the [ship’s] awning which covered you.
8 The inhabitants of Sidon and [the island] of Arvad were your oarsmen; your skilled and wise men, O Tyre, were in you; they were your pilots.
9 The old men of Gebal [a city north of Sidon] and its skilled and wise men in you were your calkers; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise and trading.
10 Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as your men of war; they hung the shield and helmet in you; they gave you beauty and splendor.
11 The men of Arvad with your army were upon your walls round about and valorous men [of Gamad] were in your towers; they hung their shields upon your walls round about; they have perfected your beauty and splendor.
12 Tarshish [in Spain] carried on traffic with you because of the abundance of your riches of all kinds; with silver, iron, tin, and lead they traded for your wares.
13 Javan (Greece), Tubal, and Meshech [in the mountainous region between the Black and Caspian Seas] traded with you. They exchanged the lives of men [taken as slaves] and vessels of bronze for your merchandise.
14 They of the house of Togarmah (Armenia) traded for your wares with [chariot] horses, cavalry horses, and mules.
15 The men of Dedan [in Arabia] traded with you; many islands and coastlands were your own markets; they brought you in payment or as presents ivory tusks and ebony.
16 Aram (Syria or Mesopotamia) and Edom traded with you because of the multitude of the wares of your making. They exchanged for your merchandise emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate or rubies.
17 Judah and the land of Israel, they were your traders; they exchanged in your market wheat of Minnith [in Ammon], olives or early figs, honey, oil, and balm.
18 Damascus traded with you because of the abundance of supplies of your handiworks and the immense wealth of every kind, with wine of Helbon [Aleppo] and white wool [of Sachar in Syria].
19 Vedan also and [Arabic] Javan traded with yarn from Uzal [in Arabia] for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were exchanged for your merchandise.
20 Dedan supplied you with precious [saddle] cloths for riding.
21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants in lambs, rams, and goats favored by you; in these they traded with you.
22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah [in Arabia] traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the choicest of all kinds of spices and all precious stones and gold.
23 Haran and Canneh and Eden [in Mesopotamia], the merchants of Sheba [on the Euphrates], Asshur, and Chilmad [near Bagdad] were your traders.
24 These traded with you in choice fabrics, in bales of garments of blue and embroidered work, and in treasures of many colored rich damask and carpets bound with cords and made firm; in these they traded with you.
25 The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise, and you were replenished [Tyre] and were heavily loaded and made an imposing fleet [in your location] in the heart of the seas.
26 Your rowers have brought you out into great and deep waters; the east wind has broken and wrecked you in the heart of the seas.
27 Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your oarsmen and your pilots, your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your company which is in your midst, sink in the heart of the seas on the day of your ruin!
28 The waves and the countryside shake at the [piercing] sound of the [hopeless, wailing] cry of your pilots.
29 And down from their ships come all who handle the oar. The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand upon the shore
30 And are heard wailing loudly over you, and they cry bitterly. They cast up dust on their heads; they wallow in ashes,
31 And they make themselves [utterly] bald for you and gird themselves with sackcloth, and they weep over you in bitterness of heart and with bitter mourning and wailing.
32 And in their wailing they take up a lamentation for you and lament over you, saying, Who was ever like Tyre, the destroyed (the annihilated), [who has become so still] in the heart of the sea?
33 When your wares came forth from the seas, you met the desire, the demand, and the necessities of many people; you enriched the kings of the earth with your abundant wealth and merchandise.
34 Now you are shattered by the seas in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your crew have gone down with you.
35 All the inhabitants of the isles and coastlands are astonished and appalled at you, and their kings are horribly frightened and shudder greatly; their faces quiver.
36 The merchants among the people hiss over you [with malicious joy]; you have become a horror and a source of terrors. You shall be [a]no more [forever].
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 27:36 Down to the thirteenth century a.d. the grandeur of the ancient city of Tyre was still visible. But God’s Word does not fail. Soon Tyre had become an almost uninhabited pile of ruins. A large part of the western section of “the island” became covered by the sea, and early travelers told of seeing “houses, towers, and streets far down in the deep.” In modern times the population of Tyre, made up largely of fishermen who spread their nets on its beaches, has increased to around 6,000, but the city as such has never been revived, and the original site has long since become obliterated.