Ezekiel 26:1-21

Context

A Prophecy Against Tyre

26:1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month,¹ the word of the Lord came to me: 26:2 “Son of man, because Tyre² has said about Jerusalem,³ ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I will become rich,⁴ now that she⁵ has been destroyed,’ 26:3 therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look,⁶ I am against you,⁷ 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 soil⁸ 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 daughters⁹ 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 that¹⁰ I am about to bring King Nebuchadrezzar¹¹ 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.¹² 26:10 He will cover you with the dust kicked up by his many horses.¹³ 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.¹⁴ 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 luxurious¹⁵ homes. Your stones, your trees, and your soil he will throw¹⁶ into the water.¹⁷ 26:13 I will silence¹⁸ 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,¹⁹ 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 vacate²⁰ 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.²¹ 26:17 They will sing this lament over you:²²

“‘How you have perished – you have vanished²³ from the seas,

O renowned city, once mighty in the sea,

she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror!²⁴

26:18 Now the coastlands will tremble on the day of your fall;

the coastlands by the sea will be terrified by your passing.’²⁵

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 surging²⁶ waters overwhelm you, 26:20 then I will bring you down to bygone people,²⁷ to be with those who descend to the pit. I will make you live in the lower parts of the earth, among²⁸ the primeval ruins, with those who descend to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited or stand²⁹ 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.”

[26:1] ¹tc 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.

[26:2] ²sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.

[26:2] ³map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[26:2] ⁴tn Heb “I will be filled.”

[26:2] ⁵sn That is, Jerusalem.

[26:3] ⁶tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.

[26:3] ⁷tn 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.

[26:4] ⁸tn Or “debris.”

[26:6] ⁹sn That is, the towns located inland that were under Tyre’s rule.

[26:7] ¹⁰tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something.

[26:7] ¹¹tn 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.”

[26:9] ¹²tn Heb “swords.”

[26:10] ¹³tn Heb “From the abundance of his horses he will cover you (with) their dust.”

[26:10] ¹⁴tn Heb “like those who enter a breached city.”

[26:12] ¹⁵tn Heb “desirable.”

[26:12] ¹⁶tn Heb “set.”

[26:12] ¹⁷tn Heb “into the midst of the water.”

[26:13] ¹⁸tn Heb “cause to end.”

[26:14] ¹⁹sn This prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander the Great in 332 b.c.

[26:16] ²⁰tn Heb “descend from.”

[26:16] ²¹tn Heb “and they will be astonished over you.”

[26:17] ²²tn Heb “and they will lift up over you a lament and they will say to you.”

[26:17] ²³tn 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.

[26:17] ²⁴tn 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).”

[26:18] ²⁵tn Heb “from your going out.”

[26:19] ²⁶tn Heb “many.”

[26:20] ²⁷tn Heb “to the people of antiquity.”

[26:20] ²⁸tn Heb “like.” The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition כְּ (kÿ, “like”), to בְּ (bÿ, “in, among”).

[26:20] ²⁹tn 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.”