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Against Tyre

26 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the Lord’s word came to me:

Human one, because Tyre laughed at Jerusalem:
“The gate of the peoples is broken,
    she lies open before me,
    she is destroyed, but I will succeed!”

The Lord God now proclaims:

Tyre, I’m now against you!
    Just as the sea hurls up its waves,
    I will bring many nations up against you.
When they destroy the walls of Tyre
        and throw down its towers,
    I will scrape off all its dirt
    and make it into a bare rock,
        a place for drying nets
        in the middle of the sea.
I have spoken! This is what the Lord God says.
It will become prey for the nations,
    and its towns around it
    will be put to the sword.
        Then they will know that I am the Lord.

The Lord God proclaims:
I’m bringing Nebuchadrezzar against Tyre,
    the king of Babylon from the north,
    the greatest of all kings,
    with horses, chariots, and charioteers,
    an assembly, a great army.
The towns around you he will destroy with the sword.
    Then he will build towers against you,
    erect siege ramps against you,
        and set up shields.
He will pound his battering ram against your walls;
    with crowbars he will tear down your towers.
10 The dust from all his horses will cover you
    when he enters your gates
    as one who enters a breached city.
        Your walls will quake
        at the thundering of the charioteers and chariot wheels.
11 His horses’ hooves will trample all your courtyards;
    he will cut down your people with the sword,
        and the monuments to your strength he will bring down[a] to the ground.
12 They will destroy your wealth, plunder your goods,
    tear down your walls, and raze your fine houses.
    Your stone, lumber, and rubble they will dump into the sea.

13 I will bring an end to your cacophonous songs;
    the sound of your lyres will never be heard again.
14 I will make you into a bare rock, a place for drying nets,
    and you will never be rebuilt.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
    This is what the Lord God says.

A lament for Tyre

15 The Lord God proclaims to Tyre: Won’t the coastlands quake at the news of your downfall, when the wounded groan, and when the slaughter in your midst goes on and on? 16 All the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, remove their royal robes, and strip off their fine garments. They will be clothed only in terror as they sit on the ground. They will be so terrified, they won’t stop shuddering because of you. 17 They will sing a lament for you, and they will say:

How you have perished, queen of the sea,
    city once praised,
    who once dominated the sea,
she and her rulers,
who spread their terror abroad,
    every one of them.
18 Now the wastelands tremble on the day of your fall.
    Your expulsion horrifies the islands of the sea.

19 The Lord God proclaims: When I turn you into ruins like uninhabitable cities, when the deep sea washes over you and the raging seas cover you, 20 I will lead you down into the pit, to the everlasting people. I will install you in the world below,[b] in the everlasting ruins, with those who go down to the pit. And so you will neither rule nor radiate splendor in the land of the living. 21 I will terrify you, and you will disappear. You will be sought but never found again. This is what the Lord God says.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 26:11 LXX; MT it will fall
  2. Ezekiel 26:20 Or the land of the lowest places

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