Ezekiel 28
New English Translation
A Prophecy Against the King of Tyre
28 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the prince[a] of Tyre, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Your heart is proud[b] and you said, “I am a god;[c]
I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas”—
yet you are a man and not a god,
though you think you are godlike.[d]
3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel;[e]
no secret is hidden from you.[f]
4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself;
you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.
5 By your great skill[g] in trade you have increased your wealth,
and your heart is proud because of your wealth.
6 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Because you think you are godlike,[h]
7 I am about to bring foreigners[i] against you, the most terrifying of nations.
They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom,[j]
and they will defile your splendor.
8 They will bring you down to the Pit, and you will die violently[k] in the heart of the seas.
9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you—
though you are a man and not a god—
when you are in the power of those who wound you?
10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised[l] by the hand of foreigners;
for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
11 The Lord’s message came to me: 12 “Son of man, sing[m] a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘You were the sealer[n] of perfection,
full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God.[o]
Every precious stone was your covering,
the ruby, topaz, and emerald,
the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,
the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl;[p]
your settings and mounts were made of gold.
On the day you were created they were prepared.
14 I placed you there with an anointed[q] guardian[r] cherub;[s]
you were on the holy mountain of God;
you walked about amidst fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your behavior[t] from the day you were created,
until sin was discovered in you.
16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence,[u] and you sinned;
so I defiled you and banished you[v] from the mountain of God—
the guardian cherub expelled you[w] from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor.
I threw you down to the ground;
I placed you before kings, that they might see you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities, through the sinfulness of your trade,
you desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I drew fire out from within you;
it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
before the eyes of all who saw you.
19 All who know you among the peoples are shocked at you;
you have become terrified and will be no more.’”
A Prophecy Against Sidon
20 The Lord’s message came to me: 21 “Son of man, turn toward[x] Sidon[y] and prophesy against it. 22 Say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against you,[z] Sidon,
and I will magnify myself in your midst.
Then they will know that I am the Lord
when I execute judgments on her
and reveal my sovereign power[aa] in her.
23 I will send a plague into the city[ab] and bloodshed into its streets;
the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it[ac] from every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers[ad] or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them.[ae] Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.
25 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power[af] over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely[ag] when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 28:2 tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).
- Ezekiel 28:2 tn Heb “lifted up.” sn See Prov 16:5.
- Ezekiel 28:2 tn Or “I am divine.”
- Ezekiel 28:2 tn Heb “and you made your heart/mind (לֵב, lev) like the heart/mind of gods.”
- Ezekiel 28:3 sn Or perhaps “Danel” (so TEV), referring to a ruler known from Canaanite legend. See the note on “Daniel” in 14:14. A reference to Danel (preserved in legend at Ugarit, near the northern end of the Phoenician coast) makes more sense here when addressing Tyre than in 14:14.
- Ezekiel 28:3 sn The tone here is sarcastic, reflecting the ruler’s view of himself.
- Ezekiel 28:5 tn Or “wisdom.”
- Ezekiel 28:6 tn Heb “because of your making your heart like the heart of gods.”
- Ezekiel 28:7 sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.
- Ezekiel 28:7 tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”
- Ezekiel 28:8 tn Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”
- Ezekiel 28:10 sn The Phoenicians practiced circumcision, so the language here must be figurative, indicating that they would be treated in a disgraceful manner. Uncircumcised peoples were viewed as inferior and unclean. See 31:18 and 32:17-32, as well as the discussion in D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:99.
- Ezekiel 28:12 tn Heb “lift up.”
- Ezekiel 28:12 tn For a discussion of possible nuances of this phrase, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:580-81.
- Ezekiel 28:13 sn The imagery of the lament appears to draw upon an extrabiblical Eden tradition about the expulsion of the first man (see v. 14 and the note there) from the garden due to his pride. The biblical Eden tradition speaks of cherubim placed as guardians at the garden entrance following the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:24), but no guardian cherub like the one described in verse 14 is depicted or mentioned in the biblical account. Ezekiel’s imagery also appears to reflect Mesopotamian and Canaanite mythology at certain points. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:119-20.
- Ezekiel 28:13 tn The exact identification of each gemstone is uncertain. The list should be compared to that of the priest in Exod 28:17-20, which lists twelve stones in rows of three. The LXX apparently imports the Exod 28 list. See reference to the types of stones in L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:14 tn Or “winged”; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:14 tn The meaning of this phrase in Hebrew is uncertain. The word translated here “guards” occurs in Exod 25:20 in reference to the cherubim “covering” the ark.
- Ezekiel 28:14 tn Heb “you (were) an anointed cherub that covers, and I placed you.” In the Hebrew text the ruler of Tyre is equated with a cherub, and the verb “I placed you” is taken with what follows (“on the holy mountain of God”). However, this reading is problematic. The pronoun “you” at the beginning of verse 14 is feminine singular in the Hebrew text; elsewhere in this passage the ruler of Tyre is addressed with masculine singular forms. It is possible that the pronoun is a rare (see Deut 5:24; Num 11:15) or defectively written (see 1 Sam 24:19; Neh 9:6; Job 1:10; Ps 6:3; Eccl 7:22) masculine form, but it is more likely that the form should be repointed as the preposition “with” (see the LXX). In this case the ruler of Tyre is compared to the first man, not to a cherub. If this emendation is accepted, then the verb “I placed you” belongs with what precedes and concludes the first sentence in the verse. It is noteworthy that the verbs in the second and third lines of the verse also appear at the end of the sentence in the Hebrew text. The presence of a conjunction at the beginning of “I placed you” is problematic for the proposal, but it may reflect a later misunderstanding of the syntax of the verse. For a defense of the proposed emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:15 tn Heb “ways.”
- Ezekiel 28:16 tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”
- Ezekiel 28:16 tn Heb “I defiled you.” The presence of the preposition “from” following the verb indicates that a verb of motion is implied as well. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:16 tn Heb “and I expelled you, O guardian cherub.” The Hebrew text takes the verb as first person and understands “guardian cherub” as a vocative, in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the verb. However, if the emendation in verse 14a is accepted (see the note above), then one may follow the LXX here as well and emend the verb to a third person perfect. In this case the subject of the verb is the guardian cherub. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:21 tn Heb “set your face against.”
- Ezekiel 28:21 sn Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre.
- Ezekiel 28:22 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
- Ezekiel 28:22 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.
- Ezekiel 28:23 tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 28:23 tn Heb “by a sword against it.”
- Ezekiel 28:24 sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55 and Josh 23:13.
- Ezekiel 28:24 tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”
- Ezekiel 28:25 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.
- Ezekiel 28:26 sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.
Ezekiel 28
English Standard Version Anglicised
Prophecy Against the Prince of Tyre
28 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 (A)“Son of man, say to (B)the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:
(C)“Because your heart is proud,
and (D)you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas’,
yet (E)you are but a man, and no god,
(F)though you make your heart like the heart of a god—
3 (G)you are indeed wiser (H)than (I)Daniel;
no secret is hidden from you;
4 by your wisdom and your understanding
(J)you have made wealth for yourself,
and have gathered gold and silver
into your treasuries;
5 by your great wisdom in your trade
you have increased your wealth,
and (K)your heart has become proud in your wealth—
6 therefore thus says the Lord God:
(L)Because you make your heart
like the heart of a god,
7 therefore, behold, I will bring (M)foreigners upon you,
the most ruthless of the nations;
and they shall draw their swords against (N)the beauty of your wisdom
and defile (O)your splendour.
8 (P)They shall thrust you down into the pit,
(Q)and you shall die the death of the slain
in the heart of the seas.
9 (R)Will you still say, ‘I am a god’,
in the presence of those who kill you,
though (S)you are but a man, and no god,
in the hands of those who slay you?
10 (T)You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
by the hand of foreigners;
(U)for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.”
A Lament over the King of Tyre
11 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: 12 (V)“Son of man, (W)raise a lamentation over (X)the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:
“You were the signet of perfection,[a]
(Y)full of wisdom and (Z)perfect in beauty.
13 You were in (AA)Eden, the garden of God;
(AB)every precious stone was your covering,
(AC)sardius, topaz, and diamond,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire,[b] (AD)emerald, and carbuncle;
and crafted in gold were your settings
and your engravings.[c]
(AE)On the day that you were created
they were prepared.
14 You were an anointed (AF)guardian cherub.
I placed you;[d] you were on (AG)the holy mountain of God;
in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
15 You were blameless in your ways
(AH)from the day you were created,
till unrighteousness was found in you.
16 In the abundance of (AI)your trade
you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from (AJ)the mountain of God,
and I destroyed you,[e] (AK)O guardian cherub,
from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 (AL)Your heart was proud because of (AM)your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour.
I cast you to the ground;
I exposed you before kings,
to feast their eyes on you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities,
in the unrighteousness of your trade
you profaned your sanctuaries;
so (AN)I brought fire out from your midst;
it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
(AO)in the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who know you among the peoples
are appalled at you;
(AP)you have come to a dreadful end
and shall be no more for ever.”
Prophecy Against Sidon
20 The word of the Lord came to me: 21 (AQ)“Son of man, (AR)set your face towards (AS)Sidon, and (AT)prophesy against her 22 and say, Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, (AU)I am against you, O Sidon,
and (AV)I will manifest my glory in your midst.
And (AW)they shall know that I am the Lord
(AX)when I execute judgements in her
and (AY)manifest my holiness in her;
23 for I will send (AZ)pestilence into her,
and blood into her streets;
and the slain shall fall in her midst,
by the sword that is against her on every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
24 “And for the house of Israel (BA)there shall be no more a brier to prick or (BB)a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbours (BC)who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.
Israel Gathered in Security
25 “Thus says the Lord God: (BD)When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and (BE)manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, (BF)then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 (BG)And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, (BH)when I execute judgements upon all their neighbours (BI)who have treated them with contempt. (BJ)Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 28:12 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain
- Ezekiel 28:13 Or lapis lazuli
- Ezekiel 28:13 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain
- Ezekiel 28:14 The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain
- Ezekiel 28:16 Or banished you
Ezekiel 28
King James Version
28 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
6 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
8 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
20 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,
22 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God.
25 Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.
Hesekiel 28
Svenska 1917
28 Och HERRENS ord kom till mig; han sade:
2 Du människobarn, säg till fursten i Tyrus: Så säger Herren, HERREN: Eftersom ditt hjärta är så högmodigt och du säger: »Jag är en gud, ja, på ett gudasäte tronar jag mitt ute i havet», du som dock är en människa och icke en gud, huru mycket du än i ditt hjärta tycker dig vara en gud --
3 och sant är att du är visare än Daniel; ingen hemlighet är förborgad för dig;
4 genom din vishet och ditt förstånd har du skaffat dig rikedom, guld och silver har du skaffat dig i dina förrådshus;
5 och genom den stora vishet varmed du drev din köpenskap har du ökat din rikedom, och så har ditt hjärta blivit högmodigt för din rikedoms skull --
6 därför säger Herren, HERREN så: Eftersom du i ditt hjärta tycker dig vara en gud,
7 se, därför skall jag låta främlingar komma över dig, de grymmaste folk; och de skola draga ut sina svärd mot din visdoms skönhet och skola oskära din glans.
8 De skola störta dig ned i graven, och du skall dö såsom en dödsslagen man, mitt ute i havet.
9 Månne du då skall säga till din dråpare: »Jag är en gud», du som ej är en gud, utan en människa, i dens våld, som slår dig till döds?
10 Såsom de oomskurna dö, så skall du dö, för främlingars hand. Ty jag har talat, säger Herren, HERREN.
11 Och HERRENS ord kom till mig han sade:
12 Du människobarn, stäm upp en klagosång över konungen i Tyrus och säg till honom: Så säger Herren, HERREN: Du var ypperst bland härliga skapelser, full med vishet och fullkomlig i skönhet.
13 I Eden, Guds lustgård, bodde du, höljd i alla slags ädla stenar: karneol, topas och kalcedon, krysolit, onyx och jaspis, safir, karbunkel och smaragd, jämte guld; du var prydd med smycken och klenoder, beredda den dag då du skapades.
14 Du var en kerub, som skuggade vida, och jag hade satt dig att vara på det heliga gudaberget, du fick där gå omkring bland gnistrande stenar.
15 Lyckosam var du på dina vägar från den dag då du skapades, till dess att orättfärdighet blev funnen hos dig.
16 Men under din myckna köpenskap blev ditt inre fyllt med orätt, och du föll i synd. Då förvisade jag dig från gudaberget och förgjorde dig, du vittskuggande kerub; du fick ej stanna bland de gnistrande stenarna.
17 Eftersom ditt hjärta högmodades över din skönhet och du förspillde din vishet för ditt pråls skull, därför slog jag dig ned till jorden och gav dig till pris åt konungarna, så att de fingo se sin lust på dig.
18 Genom dina många missgärningar vid din orättrådiga köpenskap ohelgade du dina helgedomar. Därför lät jag eld gå ut ifrån dig, och av den blev du förtärd. Jag lät dig ligga såsom aska på jorden inför alla som besökte dig.
19 Alla som kände dig bland folken häpnade över ditt öde. Du tog en ände med förskräckelse för evig tid.
20 Och HERRENS ord kom till mig; han sade:
21 Du människobarn, vänd ditt ansikte mot Sidon och profetera mot det
22 och säg: Så säger Herren, HERREN: Se, jag skall komma över dig, Sidon, och förhärliga mig i dig. Ja, att jag är HERREN, det skall man förnimma, när jag håller dom över henne och bevisar mig helig på henne.
23 Och jag skall sända över henne pest och blod på hennes gator, och dödsslagna män skola falla därinne för ett svärd som skall drabba henne från alla sidor; och man skall förnimma att jag är HERREN.
24 Sedan skall för Israels hus icke mer finnas någon stingande tagg eller något sårande törne bland alla de grannfolk som nu håna dem; och man skall förnimma att jag är Herren, HERREN.
25 Ja, så säger Herren, HERREN: När jag församlar Israels barn från de folk bland vilka de äro förströdda, då skall jag bevisa mig helig på dem inför folkens ögon, och de skola sedan få bo i sitt land, det som jag har givit åt min tjänare Jakob.
26 De skola bo där i trygghet och bygga hus och plantera vingårdar ja, de skola bo i trygghet, när jag håller dom över alla som håna dem på alla sidor; och de skola förnimma att jag är HERREN, deras Gud.
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