Ezekiel 26
Tyre’s burial at sea
Tyre celebrates fall of Jerusalem
1In the middle of winter, [1] during King Jehoiachin’s 12th year of exile, the LORD gave me a message:2Human, the city of Tyre said this about Jerusalem:
“Jerusalem gates are busted down.
I’m going in. I’ll look around.
I’ll fill my hands. I’ll take my share.
I’ll leave them broke and wasted there.”
Listen, Tyre, that’s how you make me your enemy. I’m going to hammer you with hostile nations like sea waves pound the seashore. 4Those nations will tear down your walls, knock down your towers, and scrape your dirt to bedrock. 5It’s going to become the perfect place for fishermen to dry their nets spread out on the rocks. And that’s what I, the Lord God, have to say about that.
6Invaders will turn Tyre into a town with free shopping in a plundering zone. And they’ll convert outlying communities into killing fields, with death by swords.
Babylon comes to kill
7This comes from the Lord God:Tyre, you’re going to have a visitor, Babylon’s King Nebuchadrezzar. He’s bringing a friend—the powerful Babylonian army. And they’re bringing their war chariots, horses, and cavalry. 8This king will kill everyone in your outlying villages and settlements. But for you, he’ll surround you with a siege wall. Then he’ll build a ramp to the top of your city walls. He’ll protect himself under a roof made from shields. 9He’ll drive battering rams into your walls, shocking stones loose. He’ll cut down your towers with his axes.
10His herd of horses will kick up enough dust to bury you in the cloud. The thunder of the hooves and the relentless rhythm of the war chariots on the move will shake your town to its bedrock foundation. 11His horses will trample your streets. His swords will drop you dead on the ground. And his soldiers will topple your columns into the dirt.
12They’ll rob your riches, plunder your produce, wreck your city walls, and destroy your beautiful homes. They’ll shovel your stones, wood, and dirt into the water. [2]
13I’ll put an end to your music. You can hang up your lyres. You won’t need them anymore. 14You’re going to be a flat-rock town, perfect for drying fishing nets. Your ruins will never be rebuilt. That’s what I’ve said, and I’m the LORD.
Coastal cities mourn Tyre
15The Lord God says this to Tyre:People along the coastland will tremble when they hear that you’ve fallen, and that the slaughter has left you dead or dying in pain. 16Rulers of other towns up and down the coast will leave their throne and sit on the ground, grieving for you. They’ll take off their embroidered royal robes and tremble in fear, appalled at what is happening to you.
17They’ll sing a funeral song for you.
You’re gone, no more to sail the seas.
A famous city swept away,
Taking people who terrorized our days.
But now because you vanished.
All people along the shores
Sit shocked to see you there no more.
19The Lord God says:
Once I turn your city into ruins, like ghost towns long abandoned, I’ll bury you at sea. 20I’ll push your ruins into the deep and keep you in the grave, to join the ancient dead in the world below. No one will bring your city back to life or live where you have lived. Your days of life are dead and gone.
21I’ll give you a horrible death, then you’ll be gone. People will come looking for you, but they’ll never find you. That’s what the Lord God says.
Footnotes
More specifically “on the first day of the 11th month.” The 11th month on the lunar calendar that Israel used was Shevat (parts of January/February). The date would have been about 585 BC, a year after Babylon leveled Jerusalem and other towns throughout Judah.
Some Bible readers say this prophecy came true in two stages. Ezekiel first named Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar as the one who would bring Tyre down (26:7–11). But Babylon never destroyed Tyre’s island fortress, only the mainland city. About 250 years later, in 332 BC, Alexander the Great marched in from Greece. To reach the island fortress, he scraped the ruins of mainland Tyre into the sea and built a land bridge, a causeway. His army used it to march across and conquer the city. Many traditional readers say Alexander fulfilled Ezekiel’s words exactly. Many progressive scholars, however, say the prophecy about rubble tossed into the sea was more likely written or edited after the fact, once Alexander’s victory was already history.
Citizens along the coast of what is now Lebanon had plenty of reason to tremble in fear. For one, what happened to Tyre could happen to them. But if they managed to survive, they had to worry about how to make a living again. Tyre was an international merchandising center especially for nations on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from Lebanon in the east to Spain in the west. But now the port city of Tyre was gone. The loss might be comparable to having lost New York City, London, or Sydney.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
