Ezekiel 26
New Living Translation
A Message for Tyre
26 On February 3, during the twelfth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,[a] this message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, Tyre has rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Ha! She who was the gateway to the rich trade routes to the east has been broken, and I am the heir! Because she has been made desolate, I will become wealthy!’
3 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am your enemy, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the waves of the sea crashing against your shoreline. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down its towers. I will scrape away its soil and make it a bare rock! 5 It will be just a rock in the sea, a place for fishermen to spread their nets, for I have spoken, says the Sovereign Lord. Tyre will become the prey of many nations, 6 and its mainland villages will be destroyed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
7 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar[b] of Babylon against Tyre. He is king of kings and brings his horses, chariots, charioteers, and great army. 8 First he will destroy your mainland villages. Then he will attack you by building a siege wall, constructing a ramp, and raising a roof of shields against you. 9 He will pound your walls with battering rams and demolish your towers with sledgehammers. 10 The hooves of his horses will choke the city with dust, and the noise of the charioteers and chariot wheels will shake your walls as they storm through your broken gates. 11 His horsemen will trample through every street in the city. They will butcher your people, and your strong pillars will topple.
12 “They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will destroy your lovely homes and dump your stones and timbers and even your dust into the sea. 13 I will stop the music of your songs. No more will the sound of harps be heard among your people. 14 I will make your island a bare rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the Lord, have spoken. Yes, the Sovereign Lord has spoken!
The Effect of Tyre’s Destruction
15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Tyre: The whole coastline will tremble at the sound of your fall, as the screams of the wounded echo in the continuing slaughter. 16 All the seaport rulers will step down from their thrones and take off their royal robes and beautiful clothing. They will sit on the ground trembling with horror at your destruction. 17 Then they will wail for you, singing this funeral song:
“O famous island city,
once ruler of the sea,
how you have been destroyed!
Your people, with their naval power,
once spread fear around the world.
18 Now the coastlands tremble at your fall.
The islands are dismayed as you disappear.
19 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will make Tyre an uninhabited ruin, like many others. I will bury you beneath the terrible waves of enemy attack. Great seas will swallow you. 20 I will send you to the pit to join those who descended there long ago. Your city will lie in ruins, buried beneath the earth, like those in the pit who have entered the world of the dead. You will have no place of respect here in the land of the living. 21 I will bring you to a terrible end, and you will exist no more. You will be looked for, but you will never again be found. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
Footnotes
- 26:1 Hebrew In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar year. Since an element is missing in the date formula here, scholars have reconstructed this probable reading: In the eleventh [month of the twelfth] year, on the first day of the month. This reading would put this message on February 3, 585 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.
- 26:7 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
Ezekiel 26
English Standard Version
Prophecy Against Tyre
26 (A)In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 (B)“Son of man, because (C)Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, (D)‘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: (E)Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up (F)many nations against you, (G)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 (H)make her a bare rock. 5 She (I)shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, (J)for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. And she shall become plunder for the nations, 6 and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. (K)Then they will know that I am the Lord.
7 “For thus says the Lord God: (L)Behold, I will bring against Tyre (M)from the north Nebuchadnezzar[a] king of Babylon, (N)king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. 8 He will kill with the sword (O)your daughters on the mainland. (P)He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise (Q)a roof of shields against you. 9 (R)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 men enter a city that has been breached. 11 With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will plunder (S)your riches and loot (T)your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and (U)soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. 13 (V)And I will stop the music of your songs, and (W)the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. 14 (X)I will make you a bare rock. (Y)You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, (Z)for I am the Lord; I have spoken, declares the Lord God.
15 “Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Will not (AA)the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, (AB)when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst? 16 Then all (AC)the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and (AD)remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; (AE)they will sit on the ground and (AF)tremble every moment and (AG)be appalled at you. 17 And they will (AH)raise a lamentation over you and say to you,
“‘How you have perished,
you who were inhabited from the seas,
O city renowned,
(AI)who was mighty on the sea;
she and her inhabitants (AJ)imposed their terror
on all her inhabitants!
18 Now the coastlands tremble
on the day of your fall,
and the coastlands that are on 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, (AK)when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20 then (AL)I will make you go down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, (AM)with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set beauty (AN)in the land of the living. 21 I will bring you (AO)to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more. (AP)Though you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord God.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 26:7 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar; so throughout Ezekiel
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
