25:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 25:2 “Son of man, turn toward 1 the Ammonites 2 and prophesy against them. 25:3 Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: You said “Aha!” about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile. 25:4 So take note, 3 I am about to make you slaves of 4 the tribes 5 of the east. They will make camps among you and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk. 25:5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon 6 a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 25:6 For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced with intense scorn 7 over the land of Israel, 25:7 take note, I have stretched out my hand against you, and I will hand you over as plunder 8 to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and make you perish from the lands. I will destroy you; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
25:8 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Moab 9 and Seir say, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations.” 25:9 So look, I am about to open up Moab’s flank, 10 eliminating the cities, 11 including its frontier cities, 12 the beauty of the land – Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim. 25:10 I will hand it over, 13 along with the Ammonites, 14 to the tribes 15 of the east, so that the Ammonites will no longer be remembered among the nations. 25:11 I will execute judgments against Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”
25:12 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Edom 16 has taken vengeance against the house of Judah; they have made themselves fully culpable 17 by taking vengeance 18 on them. 19 25:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom, and I will kill the people and animals within her, 20 and I will make her desolate; from Teman to Dedan they will die 21 by the sword. 25:14 I will exact my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will carry out in Edom my anger and rage; they will experience 22 my vengeance, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
25:15 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines 23 have exacted merciless revenge, 24 showing intense scorn 25 in their effort to destroy Judah 26 with unrelenting hostility. 27 25:16 So this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note, I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines. I will kill 28 the Cherethites 29 and destroy those who remain on the seacoast. 25:17 I will exact great vengeance upon them with angry rebukes. 30 Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I exact my vengeance upon them.’”
26:1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, 31 the word of the Lord came to me: 26:2 “Son of man, because Tyre 32 has said about Jerusalem, 33 ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I will become rich, 34 now that she 35 has been destroyed,’ 26:3 therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, 36 I am against you, 37 O Tyre! I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 26:4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will scrape her soil 38 from her and make her a bare rock. 26:5 She will be a place where fishing nets are spread, surrounded by the sea. For I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations, 26:6 and her daughters 39 who are in the field will be slaughtered by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
26:7 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note that 40 I am about to bring King Nebuchadrezzar 41 of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre from the north, with horses, chariots, and horsemen, an army and hordes of people. 26:8 He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will build a siege wall against you, erect a siege ramp against you, and raise a great shield against you. 26:9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his weapons. 42 26:10 He will cover you with the dust kicked up by his many horses. 43 Your walls will shake from the noise of the horsemen, wheels, and chariots when he enters your gates like those who invade through a city’s broken walls. 44 26:11 With his horses’ hoofs he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will tumble down to the ground. 26:12 They will steal your wealth and loot your merchandise. They will tear down your walls and destroy your luxurious 45 homes. Your stones, your trees, and your soil he will throw 46 into the water. 47 26:13 I will silence 48 the noise of your songs; the sound of your harps will be heard no more. 26:14 I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place where fishing nets are spread. You will never be built again, 49 for I, the Lord, have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.
26:15 “This is what the sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Oh, how the coastlands will shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, at the massive slaughter in your midst! 26:16 All the princes of the sea will vacate 50 their thrones. They will remove their robes and strip off their embroidered clothes; they will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground; they will tremble continually and be shocked at what has happened to you. 51 26:17 They will sing this lament over you: 52
“‘How you have perished – you have vanished 53 from the seas,
O renowned city, once mighty in the sea,
she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror! 54
26:18 Now the coastlands will tremble on the day of your fall;
the coastlands by the sea will be terrified by your passing.’ 55
26:19 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: When I make you desolate like the uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep over you and the surging 56 waters overwhelm you, 26:20 then I will bring you down to bygone people, 57 to be with those who descend to the pit. I will make you live in the lower parts of the earth, among 58 the primeval ruins, with those who descend to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited or stand 59 in the land of the living. 26:21 I will bring terrors on you, and you will be no more! Though you are sought after, you will never be found again, declares the sovereign Lord.”
1 tn Heb “set your face toward.”
2 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon.” Ammon was located to the east of Israel.
3 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something and has been translated here with a verb (so also throughout the chapter).
4 tn Heb “Look I am about to give you for a possession to.”
5 tn Heb “sons.”
6 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon.”
7 tn Heb “with all your scorn in (the) soul.”
8 tc The translation here follows the marginal reading (Qere) of the Hebrew text. The consonantal text (Kethib) is meaningless.
9 sn Moab was located immediately south of Ammon.
10 tn Heb “shoulder.”
11 tn Heb “from the cities.” The verb “eliminating” has been added in the translation to reflect the privative use of the preposition (see BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b).
12 tn Heb “from its cities, from its end.”
13 tn Heb “I will give it for a possession.”
14 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon” (twice in this verse).
15 tn Heb “the sons.”
16 sn Edom was located south of Moab.
17 tn Heb “and they have become guilty, becoming guilty.” The infinitive absolute following the finite verb makes the statement emphatic and draws attention to the degree of guilt incurred by Edom due to its actions.
18 tn Heb “and they have taken vengeance.”
19 sn Edom apparently in some way assisted in the destruction of Jerusalem in 587/6
20 tn Heb “and I will cut off from her man and beast.”
21 tn Heb “fall.”
22 tn Heb “know.”
23 sn The Philistines inhabited the coastal plain by the Mediterranean Sea, west of Judah.
24 tn Heb “have acted with vengeance and taken vengeance with vengeance.” The repetition emphasizes the degree of vengeance which they exhibited, presumably toward Judah.
25 tn Heb “with scorn in (the) soul.”
26 tn The object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but has been clarified as “Judah” in the translation.
27 tn Heb “to destroy (with) perpetual hostility.” Joel 3:4-8 also speaks of the Philistines taking advantage of the fall of Judah.
28 tn In Hebrew the verb “and I will cut off” sounds like its object, “the Cherethites,” and draws attention to the statement.
29 sn This is a name for the Philistines, many of whom migrated to Palestine from Crete.
30 tn Heb “with acts of punishment of anger.”
31 tc Date formulae typically include the month. According to D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 2:34, n. 27) some emend to “in the twelfth year in the eleventh month” based partially on the copy of the LXX from Alexandrinus, where Albright suggested that “eleventh month” may have dropped out due to haplography.
32 sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.
33 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
34 tn Heb “I will be filled.”
35 sn That is, Jerusalem.
36 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
37 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.
38 tn Or “debris.”
39 sn That is, the towns located inland that were under Tyre’s rule.
40 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something.
41 tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur has an an “r” rather than an “n.”
42 tn Heb “swords.”
43 tn Heb “From the abundance of his horses he will cover you (with) their dust.”
44 tn Heb “like those who enter a breached city.”
45 tn Heb “desirable.”
46 tn Heb “set.”
47 tn Heb “into the midst of the water.”
48 tn Heb “cause to end.”
49 sn This prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander the Great in 332
50 tn Heb “descend from.”
51 tn Heb “and they will be astonished over you.”
52 tn Heb “and they will lift up over you a lament and they will say to you.”
53 tn Heb “O inhabitant.” The translation follows the LXX and understands a different Hebrew verb, meaning “cease,” behind the consonantal text. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:72, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:43.
54 tn Heb “she and her inhabitants who placed their terror to all her inhabitants.” The relationship of the final prepositional phrase to what precedes is unclear. The preposition probably has a specifying function here, drawing attention to Tyre’s inhabitants as the source of the terror mentioned prior to this. In this case, one might paraphrase verse 17b: “she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror; yes, her inhabitants (were the source of this terror).”
55 tn Heb “from your going out.”
56 tn Heb “many.”
57 tn Heb “to the people of antiquity.”
58 tn Heb “like.” The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition כְּ (kÿ, “like”), to בְּ (bÿ, “in, among”).
59 tn Heb “and I will place beauty.” This reading makes little sense; many, following the lead of the LXX, emend the text to read “nor will you stand” with the negative particle before the preceding verb understood by ellipsis; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:73. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 2:47) offers another alternative, taking the apparent first person verb form as an archaic second feminine form and translating “nor radiate splendor.”