Ezekiel 26

A Prophecy Against Tyre

1 In the eleventh month of the twelfth^[a] year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:

2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’

3 therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves.

4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock.

5 Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. She will become plunder for the nations,

6 and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

7 “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar^[b] king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army.

8 He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp up to your walls and raise his shields against you.

9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons.

10 His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through.

11 The hooves of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground.

12 They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea.

13 I will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps will be heard no more.

14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the LORD have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD.

15 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Tyre: Will not the coastlands tremble at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan and the slaughter takes place in you?

16 Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled at you.

17 Then they will take up a lament concerning you and say to you: “ ‘How you are destroyed, city of renown, peopled by men of the sea! You were a power on the seas, you and your citizens; you put your terror on all who lived there.

18 Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall; the islands in the sea are terrified at your collapse.’

19 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When I make you a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths over you and its vast waters cover you,

20 then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place^[c] in the land of the living.

21 I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

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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.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 44

1. S Ezekiel 24:1; Ezekiel 29:1; Ezekiel 30:20
2. S Joshua 19:29; 2 Samuel 5:11; Isaiah 23
3. S Ezekiel 25:3
4. ver 19; Isaiah 5:30; Jeremiah 50:42; Jeremiah 51:42
5. S Isaiah 23:1,11
6. Amos 1:10
7. Ezekiel 27:32
8. Ezekiel 47:10
9. S Numbers 14:3; Ezekiel 29:19
10. Zechariah 9:2-4
11. Jeremiah 27:6; Jeremiah 39:1
12. S Ezra 7:12; Daniel 2:37
13. S Ezekiel 23:24; Nahum 2:3-4
14. S Jeremiah 6:6
15. S Jeremiah 33:4; Ezekiel 21:22
16. S Ezekiel 21:22
17. S Jeremiah 4:13; S Jeremiah 46:9; S Ezekiel 23:24
18. Isaiah 5:28
19. S Jeremiah 43:13
20. S Isaiah 26:5
21. Isaiah 23:8; S Jeremiah 4:7; Ezekiel 27:3-27; Ezekiel 28:8; Habakkuk 1:8
22. S Jeremiah 7:34
23. S Isaiah 23:7
24. S Psalms 137:2; S Isaiah 14:11
25. S Job 30:31; S Jeremiah 16:9; S Jeremiah 25:10; Revelation 18:22
26. S Job 12:14; Malachi 1:4
27. Isaiah 41:5; Ezekiel 27:35
28. S Jeremiah 49:21
29. S Job 24:12
30. S Exodus 26:36
31. S Job 8:22
32. S Job 2:8,13
33. Hosea 11:10
34. S Leviticus 26:32; Ezekiel 32:10
35. S Ezekiel 19:1; Ezekiel 27:32
36. Isaiah 14:12
37. S Psalms 46:6; S Jeremiah 49:21
38. Isaiah 23:5; S Isaiah 41:5; Ezekiel 27:35
39. S Genesis 7:11
40. S ver 3; Isaiah 8:7-8
41. Numbers 16:30; Psalms 28:1; Psalms 88:6; Ezekiel 31:14; Ezekiel 32:18; Amos 9:2; John 2:2,6
42. S Job 28:13; S Isaiah 14:9-10; Ezekiel 32:24,30
43. S Jeremiah 51:64; Daniel 11:19
44. Jeremiah 20:4; Ezekiel 27:36; Ezekiel 28:19; Revelation 18:21

Footnotes 3

[a]. Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text does not have "month of the twelfth" .
[b]. Hebrew "Nebuchadrezzar," of which "Nebuchadnezzar" is a variant; here and often in Ezekiel and Jeremiah
[c]. Septuagint; Hebrew "return, and I will give glory"

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.