Ezekiel 26:12-21

12 Your enemies will help themselves to your wealth and merchandise. They will pull down your walls and shatter your luxurious houses. They will take the stones and wood and all the rubble, and dump them into the sea.
13 I will put an end to all your songs, and I will silence the music of your harps. 1
14 I will leave only a bare rock where fishermen can dry their nets. The city will never be rebuilt. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken."
15 The Sovereign Lord has this to say to the city of Tyre: "When you are being conquered, the people who live along the coast will be terrified at the screams of those who are slaughtered.
16 All the kings of the seafaring nations will come down from their thrones. They will take off their robes and their embroidered clothes and sit trembling on the ground. They will be so terrified at your fate that they will not be able to stop trembling. 2
17 They will sing this funeral song for you: The famous city is destroyed! Her ships have been swept from the seas. The people of this city ruled the seas And terrified all who lived on the coast.
18 Now, on the day it has fallen, The islands are trembling, And their people are shocked at such destruction."
19 The Sovereign Lord says: "I will make you as desolate as ruined cities where no one lives. I will cover you with the water of the ocean depths.
20 I will send you down to the world of the dead to join the people who lived in ancient times. I will make you stay in that underground world among eternal ruins, keeping company with the dead. As a result you will never again be inhabited and take your place in the land of the living.
21 I will make you a terrifying example, and that will be the end of you. People may look for you, but you will never be found." The Sovereign Lord has spoken. 3

Ezekiel 26:12-21 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Cross References 3

  • 1. 26.13Revelation 18.22.
  • 2. 26.16-18Revelation 18.9, 10.
  • 3. 26.21Revelation 18.21.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. [Some ancient translations] swept; [Hebrew] inhabited.
  • [b]. [One ancient translation] and take your place; [Hebrew unclear.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.