Proclamation against Tyre
26 [a]In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken, it has swung open to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ 3 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers; and I will scrape her soil from her, and make her a bare rock. 5 She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets; for I have spoken, says the Lord God; and she shall become a spoil to the nations; 6 and her daughters on the mainland shall be slain by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
7 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadrez′zar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. 8 He will slay with the sword your daughters on the mainland; he will set up a siege wall against you, and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you. 9 He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 10 His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as one enters a city which has been breached. 11 With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets; he will slay your people with the sword; and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will make a spoil of your riches and a prey of your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. 13 And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets; you shall never be rebuilt; for I the Lord have spoken, says the Lord God.
15 “Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in the midst of you? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones, and remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments; they will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit upon the ground and tremble every moment, and be appalled at you. 17 And they will raise a lamentation over you, and say to you,
‘How you have vanished[b] from the seas,
O city renowned,
that was mighty on the sea,
you and your inhabitants,
who imposed your terror
on all the mainland![c]
18 Now the isles tremble
on the day of your fall;
yea, the isles that are in the sea
are dismayed at your passing.’
19 “For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20 then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the nether world, among primeval ruins, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you will not be inhabited or have a place[d] in the land of the living. 21 I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more; though you be sought for, you will never be found again, says the Lord God.”
Footnotes
- 26 The city of Tyre, in those days an island and one of the richest cities in the East, was regarded as impregnable from the landward side. In this instance the siege lasted thirteen years but remained indecisive, as Nebuchadnezzar had no fleet. We must, therefore, regard the prophet’s language here as rhetorical rather than historical; cf. 29.18.
- Ezekiel 26:17 Gk Old Latin Aquila: Heb vanished, O inhabited one,
- Ezekiel 26:17 Cn: Heb her inhabitants
- Ezekiel 26:20 Gk: Heb I will give beauty