Ezekiel
Chapter 26
1
On the first day of the. . . month in the eleventh year, the word of the LORD came to me:
2
Son of man, because of what Tyre said of Jerusalem: "Aha! it is broken, the gateway to the peoples; now that it is ruined, its wealth reverts to me!"
3
therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am coming at you, Tyre; I will churn up against you many nations, even as the sea churns up its waves;
4
1 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and raze her towers. I will scrape the ground from her and leave her a bare rock;
5
She shall be a drying place for nets in the midst of the sea. I have spoken, says the Lord GOD: and she shall be booty for the nations.
6
2 And her daughters on the mainland shall be slaughtered by the sword; thus they shall know that I am the LORD.
7
For thus says the Lord GOD: I am now bringing up against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the king of kings, with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great and mighty army.
8
Your daughters on the mainland he shall slay with the sword; He shall place a siege tower against you, cast up a ramp about you, and raise his shields against you.
9
He shall pound your walls with battering-rams and break down your towers with his weapons.
10
The surge of his horses shall cover you with dust, amid the noise of steeds, of wheels and of chariots. Your walls shall shake as he enters your gates, even as one enters a city that is breached.
11
With the hoofs of his horses he shall trample all your streets; Your people he shall slay by the sword; your mighty pillars he shall pull to the ground.
12
Your wealth shall be plundered, your merchandise pillaged; Your walls shall be torn down, your precious houses demolished; Your stones, your timber, and your clay shall be cast into the sea.
13
I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.
14
I will make you a bare rock; a drying place for nets shall you be. Never shall you be rebuilt, for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.
15
Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: At the noise of your fall, at the groaning of the wounded, when the sword slays in your midst, shall not the isles quake?
16
3 All the princes of the sea shall step down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They shall be clothed in mourning and, sitting on the ground, they shall tremble at every moment and be horrified at you.
17
Then they shall utter a lament over you: How have you perished, gone from the seas, city most prized! Once she was mighty on the sea, she and her dwellers, Who spread terror into all that dwelt by the sea.
18
On this, the day of your fall, the islands quake! The isles in the sea are terrified at your passing.
19
For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a city desolate like cities that are no longer inhabited, when I churn up the abyss against you, and its mighty waters cover you,
20
4 then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the pit, those of the bygone age; and I will make you dwell in the nether lands, in the everlasting ruins, with those who go down to the pit, so that you may never return to take your place in the land of the living.
21
I will make you a devastation, and you shall be no more; you shall be sought, but never again found, says the Lord GOD.
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Footnotes

1 [4-5] A bare rock: the Tyre of Ezekiel's time was situated on a rocky island just off the Phoenician coast; it was not until the time of Alexander the Great that it was connected by a causeway to the mainland.

2 [6] Her daughters: tributary towns and villages on the mainland.

3 [16] The princes of the sea: the rulers of the islands and coastal cities leagued commercially with Tyre.

4 [20] Those who descend into the pit: the dead, pictured as dwelling in a place or cave of darkness.


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