Ezequiel 26

Tyre will become a bare rock

¹In the eleventh year, on the first day of a month, the word of the LORD came to me:^{a 2}Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, “Aha! The gateway of the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me. She lies in ruins, and I will grow rich,” ³therefore the Lord GOD says this: I am against you, Tyre. I will bring many nations against you, as the sea hurls up its waves. ⁴They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers. I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. ⁵Out in the sea she will become a place where nets are spread to dry, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. She will become the nations’ plunder. ⁶Her daughter towns on the mainland will be put to the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

Nebuchadrezzar against Tyre

⁷For the Lord GOD says this: I am bringing against Tyre from the north Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses, chariots and horsemen, a great horde of troops. ⁸He will put your daughter towns on the mainland to the sword. He will build a siege wall against you, heap up a ramp against you and raise his shields against you. ⁹He will aim the blows of his battering rams at your walls and tear down your towers with his iron tools. ¹⁰His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. The noise of horsemen, wheels and chariots will make your walls shake when he comes through your gates, as troops pour into a city whose walls are breached. ¹¹His horses’ hooves will trample every street you have. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will crash to the ground. ¹²They will plunder your wealth and seize your goods. They will tear down your walls and demolish your fine houses, and they will throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea. ¹³I will silence the noise of your songs, and the music of your lyres will never be heard again. ¹⁴I will make you a bare rock, a place for spreading nets. You will never be built again, for I, the LORD, have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.^b

The princes of the sea mourn

¹⁵The Lord GOD says this to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan and the killing goes on within you? ¹⁶All the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones, lay aside their robes and strip off their embroidered clothes. Trembling will be their clothing. They will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled at your fate. ¹⁷They will raise a lament over you and say to you, \q “How you have perished, you who were peopled from the seas, \q the renowned city that was mighty on the sea, she and those who lived in her, \q who spread their terror over all who lived there! ¹⁸Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall, \q and the islands of the sea are dismayed at your passing.”

Down to the pit

¹⁹For the Lord GOD says this: When I make you a desolate city, like cities where no one lives, when I bring the deep up over you and its vast waters cover you, ²⁰then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the world below, among ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited. But I will give splendor to the land of the living.^{c 21}I will bring you to a terrifying end, and you will be no more. People will look for you, but you will never be found again, declares the Lord GOD.