Ezekiel 26:4

4 They'll smash the city walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I'll wash away the soil and leave nothing but bare rock.

Ezekiel 26:4 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 26:4

And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus
&c.] Undermining them, or breaking them down with their battering rams: and break down her towers;
with axes, ( Ezekiel 26:9 ) built upon the walls; erected for the defence of the city, and for watchmen to stand in, to look out from them for the enemy, and observe his motions, as well as for soldiers to fight from: and I will scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a
rock;
a bare smooth rock, which has not any surface of earth upon it. So the Targum,

``I will give her for the smoothness of an open rock.''
Tyre was built upon a rock; and whereas the inhabitants had brought earth thither, and laid it upon it, in order to make gardens and orchards, and plant flowers and trees; this should be all removed, and it should become a bare rock, as it was at first. It denotes the utter destruction of it. It has its name from a word which signifies a rock; (See Gill on Isaiah 23:1).

Ezekiel 26:4 In-Context

2 "Son of man, Tyre cheered when they got the news of Jerusalem, exclaiming, "'Good! The gateway city is smashed! Now all her business comes my way. She's in ruins and I'm in clover.'
3 "Therefore, God, the Master, has this to say: "'I'm against you, Tyre, and I'll bring many nations surging against you, as the waves of the sea surging against the shore.
4 They'll smash the city walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I'll wash away the soil and leave nothing but bare rock.
5 She'll be an island of bare rock in the ocean, good for nothing but drying fishnets. Yes, I've said so.' Decree of God, the Master. 'She'll be loot, free pickings for the nations!
6 Her surrounding villages will be butchered. Then they'll realize that I am God.'
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.