Ezekiel 26:3-4

26:3 therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, ¹  I am against you, ²  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 ³  from her and make her a bare rock.

Ezekiel 27:32

27:32 As they wail they will lament over you, chanting:

“Who was like Tyre, like a tower ⁴  in the midst of the sea?”

Ezekiel 29:18

29:18 “Son of man, King Nebuchadrezzar ⁵  of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. ⁶  Every head was rubbed bald and every shoulder rubbed bare; yet he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the work he carried out against it.

[26:3]  ¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.

[26:3]  ² 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.

[26:4]  ³ tn Or “debris.”

[27:32]  ⁵ tn As it stands, the meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear. The translation follows the suggestion of M. Dahood, “Accadian-Ugaritic dmt in Ezekiel 27:32,” Bib 45 (1964): 83-84. Several other explanations and emendations have been offered. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:83, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:85-86, for a list of options.

[29:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur has an “r” rather than an “n” (so also in v. 19).

[29:18]  ⁸ sn Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre from 585 to 571 b.c.