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27 The word of the Eternal came to me with a lament for Tyre.

Eternal One: Son of man, sing a lament over Tyre. Sing of Tyre, gateway to the sea, merchant to many ports and many people. I, the Eternal Lord, say to you:

    Tyre, you have claimed,
        “I am perfect in beauty.”
    Your territory extends to the heart of the seas;
        your builders have perfected your beauty.
    Like a great ship they have made you from the finest firs of Senir;
        they took a cedar from Lebanon to make you a noble mast.
    They brought oaks from Bashan and made your oars.
        They planked your deck with pines from the coasts of Cyprus
        and inlaid it with ivory!
    Your sail was made of fine linen from Egypt, embroidered by hand;
        your blue and purple awning was tinted with dyes imported from the coasts of Elishah.
    Your oarsmen were strong men from Sidon and Arvad;
        your crew was the most skilled and experienced men, O Tyre.
    Expert craftsmen from Gebal were on board
        to make any repairs needed.
    All the ships of the sea and their sailors huddled around you
        to trade for your goods.
10     Soldiers from Persia, Lydia, and Libya[a] were your army.
        Their shields and helmets hung from your ship and announced your splendor.
11     Men from Arvad and Helech patrolled your walls,
        and men from Gammad manned your towers.
    Their shields hung on all your walls and announced your splendor.
        They have perfected your beauty.

12 Tarshish traded with you because of your great wealth and plentiful goods; they bartered silver, iron, tin, and lead for your wares. 13 Greece,[b] Tubal, and Meshech did business with you as well. They bartered slaves and boatloads of bronze for your wares. 14 The men of Beth-togarmah bartered work horses, war horses, and mules for your goods. 15 The people of Rhodes[c] traded with you too. You made the people of the coastland your own special market, and they paid you in ivory tusks and ebony. 16 Aram[d] traded with you because your goods were plentiful. They bartered precious stones,[e] purple cloth, embroidered work, exquisite linens, coral, and rubies for your wares. 17 Judah and the rest of Israel did business with you. They paid you fine wheat, fresh produce,[f] sweet honey, fragrant oil, and exotic balm for your merchandise. 18 Damascus—the hub of caravan trading—traded with you because of your great wealth and plentiful goods as well. They brought wine from Helbon, wool from Zahar[g]; 19 Greeks from Uzal[h] bartered iron, cassia bark, and other herbs for your goods. 20 Deban traded in saddle blankets with you. 21 Arabia and all of the Kedar princes certainly traded with you. They traded lambs, rams, and goats. 22 The businessmen of Sheba and Raamah exchanged the finest spices, gems, and gold for your plentiful goods. 23-24 Haran, Canneh, Eden, and merchants from Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad did business with you, exchanging exquisite clothing, indigo fabrics, embroidered cloth, carpets dyed of various colors, and tightly braided ropes. 25 Commerce was bustling as Tarshish’s ships transported your goods. In the heart of the sea your docks were full, Tyre, and your business brought you glory and success.

Tarshish was probably located in what is southern Spain today, so Tyre’s commercial reach extended to the other side of the Mediterranean.

26     Expert seafarers row you out into the high seas;
        there, a squall from the east shatters you in the heart of the sea!
27     All is lost: your treasures and goods and products
        along with all crew aboard—seafarers, pilots, carpenters, traders, and soldiers.
    Everyone and everything will sink into the heart of the sea
        when the ship is wrecked.
28     The coastal plains shudder
        at the shrieks and cries of your pilots.
29     All oarsmen, seafarers, and pilots come down from their ships.
        They stand on the shore and gaze out to your catastrophe.
30     They mourn over you with bitter cries that drown out your screams.
        They throw dust on top of their heads and wallow in beds of ashes.
31     They shave all their hair and wear sackcloth around their waists.
        They grieve and weep over you, deeply and bitterly.
32     And they shout their dirge over your demise:
        “Who is like Tyre, sunken and silent in the heart of the sea?”
33     Your goods pleased many people when your sailors went to sea.
        Your treasures and products made kings rich all over the world.
34     But now you are shipwrecked, devoured by the great waves.
        Your products and all your crew have been swallowed by the sea.
35     All the inhabitants of the coasts
        are shocked at what happened to you;
        their kings grimace in fear as they look on.
36     And the traders of the nations jeer at you;
        the end of your story is a horror,
        for you are gone, never to return.

Footnotes

  1. 27:10 Hebrew, Lud and Put
  2. 27:13 Hebrew, Javan
  3. 27:15 Hebrew manuscripts read, “Dedan.”
  4. 27:16 Some manuscripts read, “Edom.”
  5. 27:16 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  6. 27:17 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  7. 27:18 Or, white
  8. 27:19 Or, wine from Isal

27 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;

And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.

Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.

They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.

Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.

Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.

The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.

The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.

10 They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.

11 The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.

12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.

13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.

14 They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.

15 The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.

16 Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.

17 Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.

18 Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.

19 Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.

20 Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.

21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.

22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.

23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.

24 These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.

25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.

26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.

27 Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.

28 The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.

29 And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land;

30 And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:

31 And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.

32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?

33 When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.

34 In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.

35 All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.

36 The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.