Ezekiel 26

Against Tyre

1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the LORD's word came to me:

2 Human 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!"

3 The 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.

4 When 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.

7 The 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. Then he will build towers against you, erect siege ramps against you, and set up shields.

8 The towns around you he will destroy with the sword.

9 He will pound his battering ram against your walls; with crowbars he will tear down your towers.

10 The 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.

11 His 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 to the ground.

12 They 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.

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

14 I 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

15 The 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?

16 All 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.

17 They 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.

18 Now the wastelands tremble on the day of your fall. Your expulsion horrifies the islands of the sea.

19 The 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,

20 I will lead you down into the pit, to the everlasting people. I will install you in the world below, 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.

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

Ezekiel 26 Commentary

Chapter 26

A prophecy against Tyre.

Verses 1-14 To be secretly pleased with the death or decay of others, when we are likely to get by it; or with their fall, when we may thrive upon it, is a sin that easily besets us, yet is not thought so bad as really it is. But it comes from a selfish, covetous principle, and from that love of the world as our happiness, which the love of God expressly forbids. He often blasts the projects of those who would raise themselves on the ruin of others. The maxims most current in the trading world, are directly opposed to the law of God. But he will show himself against the money-loving, selfish traders, whose hearts, like those of Tyre, are hardened by the love of riches. Men have little cause to glory in things which stir up the envy and rapacity of others, and which are continually shifting from one to another; and in getting, keeping, and spending which, men provoke that God whose wrath turns joyous cities into ruinous heaps.

Verses 15-21 See how high, how great Tyre had been. See how low Tyre is made. The fall of others should awaken us out of security. Every discovery of the fulfilment of a Scripture prophecy, is like a miracle to confirm our faith. All that is earthly is vanity and vexation. Those who now have the most established prosperity, will soon be out of sight and forgotten.

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX; MT it will fall
• [b]. Or the land of the lowest places

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 26

This chapter contains a prophecy of the destruction of Tyre. The time of the prophecy, Eze 26:1, the cause of the destruction of it, rejoicing at the ruin of Jerusalem, Eze 26:2, the instruments of it, many nations, particularly the king of Babylon, Eze 26:3-7, the manner in which it shall be done, Eze 26:8-14, the lamentation of other isles, and the princes of them, on account of it, Eze 26:15-18, the utter destruction of it, so as never to be found any more, Eze 26:19-21.