Ezekiel 26

Prophecy Against Tyre

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

2 ²"Son of man, because ³Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ⁴'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: ⁵Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up ⁶many nations against you, ⁷as 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 ⁸make her a bare rock.

5 She ⁹shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, ¹⁰for 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. ¹¹Then they will know that I am the LORD.

7 "For thus says the Lord GOD: ¹²Behold, I will bring against Tyre ¹³from the north Nebuchadnezzar^[a] king of Babylon, ¹⁴king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers.

8 He will kill with the sword ¹⁵your daughters on the mainland. ¹⁶He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise ¹⁷a roof of shields against you.

9 ¹⁸He 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 ¹⁹your riches and loot ²⁰your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and ²¹soil they will cast into the midst of the waters.

13 ²²And I will stop the music of your songs, and ²³the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.

14 ²⁴I will make you a bare rock. ²⁵You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, ²⁶for I am the LORD; I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.

15 "Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Will not ²⁷the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, ²⁸when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst?

16 Then all ²⁹the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and ³⁰remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; ³¹they will sit on the ground and ³²tremble every moment and ³³be appalled at you.

17 And they will ³⁴raise a lamentation over you and say to you, "'How you have perished, you who were inhabited from the seas, O city renowned, ³⁵who was mighty on the sea; she and her inhabitants ³⁶imposed 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, ³⁷when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you,

20 then ³⁸I 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, ³⁹with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set beauty ⁴⁰in the land of the living.

21 I will bring you ⁴¹to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more. ⁴²Though you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord GOD."

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.

Cross References

• 1. See Ezekiel 20:1
• 2. See Ezekiel 2:1
• 3. See Isaiah 23:1-18
• 4. Ezekiel 25:3; Ezekiel 36:2
• 5. See Ezekiel 13:8
• 6. [Ezekiel 32:3; Jeremiah 34:1]
• 7. [Lamentations 2:13]
• 8. Ezekiel 24:7
• 9. Ezekiel 47:10
• 10. See Ezekiel 17:24
• 11. See Ezekiel 6:7
• 12. [Ezekiel 29:18]
• 13. See Jeremiah 1:14
• 14. Ezra 7:12; Daniel 2:37; [Hosea 8:10]
• 15. ver. 6
• 16. See Ezekiel 4:2
• 17. [2 Kings 19:32]
• 18. Ezekiel 4:2; Ezekiel 21:22
• 19. See Ezekiel 27:12-24
• 20. See Ezekiel 27:12-24
• 21. ver. 4
• 22. [Isaiah 24:8; Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 16:9]
• 23. [Isaiah 5:12; Isaiah 23:16]
• 24. [See ver. 4 above]
• 25. [See ver. 5 above]
• 26. [See ver. 5 above]
• 27. Ezekiel 27:35
• 28. Jeremiah 51:52
• 29. [Isaiah 23:8]
• 30. [Jonah 3:6]
• 31. Isaiah 3:26
• 32. Ezekiel 32:10
• 33. Ezekiel 27:35
• 34. Ezekiel 19:1; Ezekiel 27:2, 32; [Revelation 18:9]
• 35. [Isaiah 23:4]
• 36. See Ezekiel 32:23
• 37. [ver. 3; Ezekiel 27:34]
• 38. [Ezekiel 31:14, 16; Ezekiel 32:18, 24]
• 39. [Ezekiel 31:14, 16; Ezekiel 32:18, 24]
• 40. Ezekiel 32:23, 27, 32; Psalms 27:13
• 41. Ezekiel 27:36; Ezekiel 28:19
• 42. [Psalms 37:36]

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar; so throughout Ezekiel

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.