Ezekiel 25-26

Common English Bible

Against the neighboring nations

25 The Lord’s word came to me: ²Human one, face the Ammonites and prophesy against them. ³Say to the Ammonites: Hear the Lord God’s word! The Lord God proclaims: You laughed when my sanctuary was degraded, when Israel’s fertile land was laid waste, and when the house of Judah went into exile; ⁴therefore, I’m handing you over to people in the east for them to take possession. They will set up their encampments against you, establish residence, devour your fruit, and drink your milk. ⁵I’ll make Rabbah into pastureland for camels and Ammon a resting place for flocks. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁶The Lord God proclaims: Because you clapped your hands and stamped your feet when you rejoiced with utter contempt for Israel’s fertile land, ⁷I’m about to overpower you. Nations will plunder you. I will cut you off from the peoples, remove you from the lands, and utterly destroy you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁸The Lord God proclaims: Because Moab and Seir say, “Aha! The house of Judah has become like all the nations,” ⁹I’ll open up the flank of Moab from the cities at its border, the land’s splendid cities, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. ¹⁰I’ll hand it over, along with the Ammonites, to people in the east for them to take possession. And so Ammon will no longer be remembered among the nations. ¹¹I’ll execute judgments in Moab, and they will know that I am the Lord.

¹²The Lord God proclaims: Edom acted with excessive force against the house of Judah. The Judeans were guilty, but Edom’s vengeance was excessive. ¹³So the Lord God now proclaims: I’ll overpower Edom, eliminate all living creatures, and make it a wasteland from Teman to Dedan. They will fall by the sword. ¹⁴I will execute my vengeance in Edom through my people Israel’s power. They will act in Edom according to my anger and fury, and they will know my vengeance. This is what the Lord God says.

¹⁵The Lord God proclaims: When the Philistines set out to right the wrongs done to them, they enacted revenge with utter contempt and old hatreds. ¹⁶So now the Lord God proclaims: I will overpower the Philistines, eliminate the Cherethites, and obliterate all who are left along the coastline. ¹⁷I will act against them with great vengeance and with wrathful punishments. When I execute my vengeance against them, they will know that I am the Lord.

Against Tyre

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

²Human 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!”

³The 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.
⁴When 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,
⁵        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,
⁶    and its towns around it
    will be put to the sword.
        Then they will know that I am the Lord.

⁷The 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.
⁸The 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.
⁹He will pound his battering ram against your walls;
    with crowbars he will tear down your towers.
¹⁰The 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.
¹¹His 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.
¹²They 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.

¹³I will bring an end to your cacophonous songs;
    the sound of your lyres will never be heard again.
¹⁴I 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

¹⁵The 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? ¹⁶All 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. ¹⁷They 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.
¹⁸Now the wastelands tremble on the day of your fall.
    Your expulsion horrifies the islands of the sea.

¹⁹The 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, ²⁰I 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. ²¹I will terrify you, and you will disappear. You will be sought but never found again. This is what the Lord God says.