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The Prophets · Old Testament

Ezekiel 26

Ezekiel 26: Tyrus scraped to a bare rock

General context

The prophet dates this word to "the eleventh year, in the first day of the month". Tyrus has said of Jerusalem, "Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people", expecting to be filled now that the city is laid waste. The Lord God declares himself against Tyrus and will bring many nations against her like waves. They will destroy her walls and towers; he will scrape her dust away and leave her like the top of a rock, a place for spreading nets. Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, called a king of kings, will come from the north with horses, chariots and much people, slay her daughters in the field, build a fort and a mount, set engines of war against her walls and break her towers with axes. Horses' hoofs will tread her streets, her people will be slain, her riches spoiled, and her stones, timber and dust laid in the water. Her songs and harps will cease and she will be built no more. The isles will shake at her fall; the princes of the sea will leave their thrones, put off their robes, sit on the ground trembling and take up a lamentation over the renowned city. Finally the Lord will bring the deep over her and set her among those who go down to the pit, never to be found again.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 26:1, Ezekiel 26:2, Ezekiel 26:3, Ezekiel 26:4, Ezekiel 26:5, Ezekiel 26:6, Ezekiel 26:7, Ezekiel 26:8, Ezekiel 26:9, Ezekiel 26:11, Ezekiel 26:12, Ezekiel 26:13, Ezekiel 26:14, Ezekiel 26:15, Ezekiel 26:16, Ezekiel 26:17, Ezekiel 26:19, Ezekiel 26:20, Ezekiel 26:21

Ezekiel 26 (KJV)

1And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:

3Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.

4And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.

5It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.

6And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

7For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.

8He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.

9And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

10By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.

11With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.

12And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.

13And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.

14And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

15Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?

16Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.

17And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!

18Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

19For thus saith the Lord God; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;

20When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;

21I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The date heading names the eleventh year and the first day of the month, but the printed text does not number the month. The occasion given for the oracle is a saying of Tyrus about Jerusalem's breaking, so the text places it after Jerusalem is "laid waste", which is not narrated here. Two agents are named in sequence: first "many nations" like waves, then "Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north". The text says he will slay Tyrus's "daughters which are in the field" and enter her gates, and it says the city "shalt be built no more". Later in this book the Lord says Nebuchadrezzar's army had "no wages" for its service against Tyrus, a detail the reader should hold alongside this chapter rather than resolve. The princes of the sea and the isles are not named. The chapter does not say when the siege occurs or describe its outcome as history; everything is spoken as what will happen.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 26:1, Ezekiel 26:2, Ezekiel 26:3, Ezekiel 26:7, Ezekiel 26:8, Ezekiel 26:10, Ezekiel 26:14, Ezekiel 29:18, Ezekiel 26:16

Literary context

Tyrus's "Aha" over Jerusalem repeats the word charged against Ammon in the previous chapter, and the answer is a reversal: the city that expected to be "replenished" is emptied to bare rock. The imagery is of the sea. Nations come "as the sea causeth his waves to come up", the ruin is a place for nets "in the midst of the sea", and the close brings "the deep" and "great waters" over the city. Sound is used deliberately: the noise of horsemen, wheels and chariots makes the walls shake, while the noise of songs and harps ceases. The oracle moves through four "Thus saith the Lord God" units, shifting from the Lord's own "I" to Nebuchadrezzar's "he" and back. The lament of the princes of the sea is staged as a public act, thrones left and robes exchanged for trembling, and their words "How art thou destroyed" open the lamentation form that the next chapter expands. The final descent "into the pit" with "the people of old time" anticipates the roll call of the dead in chapter 32.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 26:2, Ezekiel 25:3, Ezekiel 26:3, Ezekiel 26:5, Ezekiel 26:10, Ezekiel 26:13, Ezekiel 26:15, Ezekiel 26:16, Ezekiel 26:17, Ezekiel 26:19, Ezekiel 26:20

Key moments

  1. Tyrus gloats over Jerusalem (Ezekiel 26:2). Tyrus says Aha over Jerusalem's breaking and expects to be filled by her loss.
  2. Scraped to the top of a rock (Ezekiel 26:4). The Lord says he will scrape Tyrus's dust away and leave her like a bare rock.
  3. Nebuchadrezzar from the north (Ezekiel 26:7). The king of Babylon is named as the one who will come against Tyrus with horses and chariots.
  4. Songs and harps silenced (Ezekiel 26:13). The Lord says the noise of Tyrus's songs will cease and her harps will not be heard.
  5. Princes of the sea lament (Ezekiel 26:16). The princes of the sea leave their thrones, sit on the ground and tremble at Tyrus's fall.
  6. Never found again (Ezekiel 26:21). The Lord says Tyrus will be a terror and, though sought, will never be found.

For reflection

Tyrus's fault, as the text gives it, is expecting to profit from Jerusalem's ruin: "I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste". What does the oracle suggest about gain that depends on someone else's loss?

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