Ezekiel26
New Living Translation
1On February 3, during the twelfth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord:
2“Son of man, Tyre has rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Ha! She who was the gateway to the rich trade routes to the east has been broken, and I am the heir! Because she has been made desolate, I will become wealthy!’
3“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am your enemy, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the waves of the sea crashing against your shoreline.
4They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down its towers. I will scrape away its soil and make it a bare rock!
5It will be just a rock in the sea, a place for fishermen to spread their nets, for I have spoken, says the Sovereign Lord. Tyre will become the prey of many nations,
6and its mainland villages will be destroyed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
7“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon against Tyre. He is king of kings and brings his horses, chariots, charioteers, and great army.
8First he will destroy your mainland villages. Then he will attack you by building a siege wall, constructing a ramp, and raising a roof of shields against you.
9He will pound your walls with battering rams and demolish your towers with sledgehammers.
10The hooves of his horses will choke the city with dust, and the noise of the charioteers and chariot wheels will shake your walls as they storm through your broken gates.
11His horsemen will trample through every street in the city. They will butcher your people, and your strong pillars will topple.
12“They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and break down your walls. They will destroy your lovely homes and dump your stones and timbers and even your dust into the sea.
13I will stop the music of your songs. No more will the sound of harps be heard among your people.
14I will make your island a bare rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the Lord, have spoken. Yes, the Sovereign Lord has spoken!
15“This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Tyre: The whole coastline will tremble at the sound of your fall, as the screams of the wounded echo in the continuing slaughter.
16All the seaport rulers will step down from their thrones and take off their royal robes and beautiful clothing. They will sit on the ground trembling with horror at your destruction.
17Then they will wail for you, singing this funeral song: “O famous island city, once ruler of the sea, how you have been destroyed! Your people, with their naval power, once spread fear around the world.
18Now the coastlands tremble at your fall. The islands are dismayed as you disappear.
19“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will make Tyre an uninhabited ruin, like many others. I will bury you beneath the terrible waves of enemy attack. Great seas will swallow you.
20I will send you to the pit to join those who descended there long ago. Your city will lie in ruins, buried beneath the earth, like those in the pit who have entered the world of the dead. You will have no place of respect here in the land of the living.
21I will bring you to a terrible end, and you will exist no more. You will be looked for, but you will never again be found. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 26.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: A prophecy against Tyre. (1-21).
vv1-14
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.
vv15-21
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.
Key Words
שָׁנֶה: a year (as a revolution of time)
אֶחָד: properly, united, i.e. one; or (as an ordinal) first
חֹדֶשׁ: the new moon; by implication, a month
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
צֹר: Tsor, a place in Palestine
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם: Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of Palestine
Cross References
Ezekiel 26Nebuchadnezzar's title 'king of kings' reflects the authority delegated to him by God.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Tyre's mocking 'Aha!' against ruined Jerusalem is the typical language of spiteful enemies.
Supported by JFB
Jeremiah's cup of wrath for Tyre parallels Ezekiel's judgment prophecy.
Supported by JFB
Ezekiel later details Nebuchadnezzar's actual thirteen-year arduous siege against Tyre.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The fall of mystical Babylon in Revelation draws heavily on Tyre's lost merchandise.
Supported by JFB
The cessation of songs and harps in judged Tyre prefigures Babylon's quietness.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The finality of Tyre's destruction is echoed in the violent throwing down of Babylon.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Identifies Tyre historically as the strong, ancient fortified city near Israel's border.
Supported by JFB
Isaiah's burden against Tyre mirrors the same themes of commercial pride and fall.
Supported by JFB
Ezekiel's standard imagery of proud nations brought down to the pit of the underworld.
Supported by JFB
Ezekiel's expanded lamentation on the same destruction of Tyre in the sea.
Supported by JFB
Historical confirmation of the captive kings held under Nebuchadnezzar's sovereign rule.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Repeats and emphasizes the decree of Tyre becoming a bare rock for drying nets.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Describes the terrifying swiftness and power of the Chaldean cavalry.
Supported by Matthew Poole