Old/New Testament

A Song of Sorrow for Tyre

27 The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, sing a song of sorrow over Tyre. ³ Say to Tyre, whose people live at the gateway to the sea and trade with people from many lands, ‘The Lord God says, “O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’ ⁴ Your home is on the sea. Your builders have made you perfect in beauty. ⁵ They made your pieces of wood from the fir trees from Senir. They made the wood that holds your sail out of a cedar from Lebanon. ⁶ They made your oars out of oak trees from Bashan. They made your floor of ivory and boxwood from the land of Cyprus. ⁷ Your sail was made of fine and beautiful linen from Egypt, to show all people who you are. Your covering was made of blue and purple cloth from the land of Elishah. ⁸ The people of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers. Your own wise and able men were your sailors. ⁹ The leaders and wise men of Gebal were with you, putting tar where it was needed to keep the water out. All the ships of the sea and their sailors were with you to trade for your good things.

¹⁰ “Soldiers from Persia and Lud and Put were in your army. They hung battle-coverings and head-coverings in you, and made you beautiful. ¹¹ The men of Arvad and Helech were on your walls all around. And men of Gammad were in your towers. They hung their battle-coverings all around your walls, and made you perfect in beauty.

¹² “Tarshish traded with you because of all your riches of every kind. They paid for your good things with silver, iron, tin, and lead. ¹³ Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you. They paid for your good things with servants and objects of brass. ¹⁴ Men of Beth-togarmah paid for your good things with horses, war horses, and mules. ¹⁵ The men of Dedan traded with you. Many lands beside the sea traded with you, paying you with ivory horns and beautiful dark wood. ¹⁶ Syria traded with you because of all your good things. They bought them with stones of great worth, purple cloth, cloth with beautiful sewing, fine linen, and coral. ¹⁷ Judah and the land of Israel traded with you. They paid for your good things with the grain of Minnith, cakes, honey, oil, and medicine. ¹⁸ Damascus traded with you because of all your good things and riches of all kinds. They paid for them with the wine of Helbon and white wool. ¹⁹ Vedan and Javan traded with you from Uzal. They paid you with pure iron and spices. ²⁰ Dedan paid you with horse coverings. ²¹ Arabia and all the leaders of Kedar traded with you. They paid you with lambs, rams, and goats. ²² Sheba and Raamah traded with you. They paid for your good things with the best of all kinds of spices, stones of great worth, and gold. ²³ Haran, Canneh, Eden, Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you. ²⁴ They paid you with the best clothing, clothes of blue cloth and beautiful sewing, floor coverings of many colors, and strong ropes. ²⁵ The ships of Tarshish carried your good things for you. You were filled and honored in the middle of the seas.

²⁶ “Your rowers have brought you into deep waters. The east wind has wrecked you far out in the sea. ²⁷ Your riches, your good things, the things you trade, your sailors, your pilots, your builders, your traders, all your soldiers, and all your people will fall into the sea on the day you are destroyed. ²⁸ The lands by the sea will shake at the sound of your sailors’ cry. ²⁹ All the rowers and sailors of the sea will leave their ships. They will stand on the land ³⁰ and cry in a loud voice of sorrow over you. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes. ³¹ They will cut off their hair because of you, and dress themselves in cloth made from hair. They will cry over you with much sorrow in their soul. ³² In their crying they will sing a song of sorrow for you, saying, ‘Who is like Tyre, destroyed and quiet in the sea? ³³ When your good things went out on the sea, you pleased many nations. With all your riches and good things you made the kings of the earth rich. ³⁴ Now you are wrecked by the sea, in the deep waters. Your good things and all your people have gone down with you. ³⁵ All the people who live on the islands are full of fear and wonder because of you. Their kings are very afraid. Their faces are troubled. ³⁶ The traders among the nations make sounds of surprise at you. You have come to an end and you will be no more.’”

Words against the King of Tyre

28 The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, tell the leader of Tyre, ‘The Lord God says, “Because your heart is proud, you have said, ‘I am a god. I sit in the seat of gods, with the seas around me.’ Yet you are a man and not God, even if you think you are as wise as God. ³ You are wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that is hidden from you. ⁴ By your wisdom and understanding you have gathered riches for yourself. You have gathered gold and silver for your store-houses. ⁵ By all your wisdom in trade you have added to your riches, and your heart has become proud because of them. ⁶ So the Lord God says, ‘Because you think you are as wise as God, ⁷ I will bring strangers against you, those who have the hardest hearts of all the nations. With their swords they will destroy the beauty of your wisdom and your greatness. ⁸ They will bring you down to the grave. You will die the death of those who are killed on the sea. ⁹ Will you still say, “I am a god,” in front of those who kill you? You will be only a man and not a god in the hands of those who kill you. ¹⁰ You will be killed by strangers, and will die the death of one who has not gone through the religious act of My people. For I have spoken,’ says the Lord God.”’”

Song of Sorrow for the King of Tyre

¹¹ The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹² “Son of man, sing a song of sorrow for the king of Tyre, and tell him, ‘The Lord God says, “You were once the mark of what is perfect, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every stone of great worth covered you: ruby, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, chrysolite, turquoise, and emerald. And you had beautiful objects of gold. They were made for you when you were made. ¹⁴ You were the cherub who kept watch, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked among the stones of fire. ¹⁵ You were without blame in your ways from the day you were made until sin was found in you. ¹⁶ Through all your trading you were filled with bad ways, and you sinned. So I have sent you away in shame from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you and driven you out from the stones of fire, O cherub who kept watch. ¹⁷ Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You made your wisdom sinful because of your beauty. So I threw you to the ground. I laid you in front of kings for them to see you. ¹⁸ By all your wrong-doing and sinful trading you made your holy places sinful. So I made a fire come out from you, and it has destroyed you. I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. ¹⁹ All the nations who know you are filled with wonder and fear because of you. You have come to a bad end, and you will be no more forever.”’”

Words against Sidon

²⁰ The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ²¹ “Son of man, look toward Sidon and speak against her. ²² Tell her, ‘The Lord God says, “I am against you, O Sidon, and My greatness will be honored among you. They will know that I am the Lord when I punish Sidon. I will show Myself holy within her. ²³ For I will send disease upon her, and blood into her streets. People will be killed by the sword from every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord. ²⁴ No longer will the people of Israel have neighbors like a sharp thistle or thorn who hate them. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.

²⁵ “The Lord God says, ‘I will gather the people of Israel from the different nations where they have been sent. And I will show Myself holy among them in the eyes of the nations. Then they will live in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. ²⁶ They will live there and be safe. They will build houses, plant grape-fields, and be safe, when I punish all those around them who speak against them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”’”

Word against Egypt

29 On the twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year, the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, look toward Pharaoh king of Egypt, and speak against him and against all Egypt. ³ Tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt. You are the big animal that lies in his rivers and says, ‘The Nile is mine. I made it.’ ⁴ I will put hooks in your mouth. I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your hard skin. And I will pull you up out of your rivers, with the fish that stick to your hard skin. ⁵ Then I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall on the open field, and not be gathered or buried. I will feed you to the wild animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky. ⁶ Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord. They have been only a weak piece of river grass to the people of Israel. ⁷ When they took hold of you with their hands, you broke and tore all their shoulders. When they rested on you, you broke and hurt their backs.” ⁸ So the Lord God says, “I will bring a sword against you and kill your people and animals. ⁹ And the land of Egypt will be destroyed and laid waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,’ ¹⁰ I am against you and against your rivers. I will destroy Egypt and make it nothing but waste from Migdol to Syene and even to the land of Ethiopia. ¹¹ No foot of man or animal will pass through it, and no one will live there for forty years. ¹² I will make the land of Egypt a waste among the lands which are laid waste. Her cities will be a waste for forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will divide the Egyptians among the nations and spread them out among the lands.”

¹³ ’For the Lord God says, “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were divided. ¹⁴ I will bring them back to Egypt and let them live in Pathros, the land they came from. And there they will be a small nation. ¹⁵ It will be the least of the nations, and will never lift itself up above other nations again. I will make them so small that they will never rule over the nations. ¹⁶ It will never again be a hope for the people of Israel. They will remember their sin in turning to Egypt for help in the past. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.”’”

King Nebuchadnezzar Will Take Egypt

¹⁷ On the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year, the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army work hard against Tyre. Every head lost its hair, and skin was rubbed off every shoulder. But he and his army did not receive anything from Tyre to pay for the work he had done against it.” ¹⁹ So the Lord God says, “I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry away her riches. He will take all her good things, and they will be pay for his army. ²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for the work he has done, because he and his army worked for Me,” says the Lord God.

²¹ “On that day I will make the people of Israel strong, and give you the power to speak among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Teaching for Married Christians

3 Wives, obey your own husbands. Some of your husbands may not obey the Word of God. By obeying your husbands, they may become Christians by the life you live without you saying anything. ² They will see how you love God and how your lives are pure. ³ Do not let your beauty come from the outside. It should not be the way you comb your hair or the wearing of gold or the wearing of fine clothes. ⁴ Your beauty should come from the inside. It should come from the heart. This is the kind that lasts. Your beauty should be a gentle and quiet spirit. In God’s sight this is of great worth and no amount of money can buy it. ⁵ This was the kind of beauty seen in the holy women who lived many years ago. They put their hope in God. They also obeyed their husbands. ⁶ Sarah obeyed her husband Abraham. She respected him as the head of the house. You are her children if you do what is right and do not have fear.

⁷ In the same way, husbands should understand and respect their wives, because women are weaker than men. Remember, both husband and wife are to share together the gift of life that lasts forever. If this is not done, you will find it hard to pray.

Teaching for All Christians

⁸ Last of all, you must share the same thoughts and the same feelings. Love each other with a kind heart and with a mind that has no pride. ⁹ When someone does something bad to you, do not do the same thing to him. When someone talks about you, do not talk about him. Instead, pray that good will come to him. You were called to do this so you might receive good things from God. ¹⁰ For “If you want joy in your life and have happy days, keep your tongue from saying bad things and your lips from talking bad about others. ¹¹ Turn away from what is sinful. Do what is good. Look for peace and go after it. ¹² The Lord watches over those who are right with Him. He hears their prayers. But the Lord is against those who sin.” ^{(A) 13} Who will hurt you if you do what is right? ¹⁴ But even if you suffer for doing what is right, you will be happy. Do not be afraid or troubled by what they may do to make it hard for you. ¹⁵ Your heart should be holy and set apart for the Lord God. Always be ready to tell everyone who asks you why you believe as you do. Be gentle as you speak and show respect. ¹⁶ Keep your heart telling you that you have done what is right. If men speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see the good way you have lived as a Christian. ¹⁷ If God wants you to suffer, it is better to suffer for doing what is right than for doing what is wrong.

Christ Suffered for Us

¹⁸ Christ suffered and died for sins once for all. He never sinned and yet He died for us who have sinned. He died so He might bring us to God. His body died but His spirit was made alive. ¹⁹ Christ went and preached to the spirits in prison. ²⁰ Those were the spirits of the people who would not obey in the days of Noah. God waited a long time for them while Noah was building the big boat. But only eight people were saved from dying when the earth was covered with water. ²¹ This is like baptism to us. Baptism does not mean we wash our bodies clean. It means we are saved from the punishment of sin and go to God in prayer with a heart that says we are right. This can be done because Christ was raised from the dead. ²² Christ has gone to heaven and is on the right side of God. Angels and powers of heaven are obeying Him.