Jezekiel 28
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
[Then] Yahweh gave me another message. [He said]:
2 And thou, son of man, say to the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord; Because thine heart has been exalted, and thou hast said, I am God, I have inhabited the dwelling of God in the heart of the sea; yet thou art man and not God, though thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God:
“You human, give to the king of Tyre this message from [me], Yahweh the Lord: ‘You have very proudly claimed, “I am a god! I sit on a throne of a god [in a city on an island] in the sea!” You boast that you are a god; but you are only a man, not a god.
3 art thou wiser than Daniel? or have not the wise instructed thee with their knowledge?
[You think that] you are wiser than Daniel was, [and you think that] you can understand every secret.
4 Hast thou gained power for thyself by thine [own] knowledge or thine [own] prudence, and [gotten] gold and silver in thy treasures?
By being wise and understanding [a lot], you have become [very] rich; you have acquired much gold and silver for your treasuries.
5 By thy abundant knowledge and thy traffic thou hast multiplied thy power; thy heart has been lifted up by thy power.
[Yes, it is true that] by trading wisely, you have been enabled to become very rich, and because you are rich, you have become very proud.
6 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Since thou hast set thine heart as the hart of God;
Therefore, this is what Yahweh the Lord says: “Because you think that you are as wise as a god,
7 because of this, behold, I [will] bring on thee strange plagues from the nations; and they shall draw their swords against thee, and against the beauty of thy knowledge,
I will [now] bring a foreign [army] to attack your [country], an army that causes other nations to be terrified. They will pull out their swords to strike you, [you who think that] [IRO] you have marvelous/great wisdom, and they will destroy all your beautiful things.
8 and they shall bring down thy beauty to destruction. And they shall bring thee down; and thou shalt die the death of the slain in the heart of the sea.
They will bring you down to your grave; you will die violently like [MET] those who died in the sea.
9 Wilt thou indeed say, I am God, before them that slay thee? whereas thou art man, and not God.
Then you will certainly not [RHQ] say to those who are killing you, 'I am a god!' [because they will know that] you are not a god; you are only a man.
10 Thou shalt perish by the hands of strangers among the multitude of the uncircumcised: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord.
You will die like other people who are unacceptable to me die, killed by foreigners.” [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it.’”
11 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Yahweh also gave me this message:
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation for the prince of Tyre, and say to him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou art a seal of resemblance, and crown of beauty.
“You human, sing a sad/funeral song about the king of Tyre. Say to him, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: [“You thought that] [IRO] you were completely perfect, extremely wise and handsome.
13 Thou wast in the delight of the paradise of God; thou hast bound upon thee every precious stone, the sardius, and topaz, and emerald, and carbuncle, and sapphire, and jasper, and silver, and gold, and ligure, and agate, and amethyst, and chrysolite, and beryl, and onyx: and thou hast filled thy treasures and thy stores in thee with gold.
You [had a wonderful life, as though] you were in my [beautiful] garden in Eden. Your [clothes] were decorated with many [HYP] kinds of very valuable stones— ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, turquoise, and beryl [stones]. Those stones were set/placed in gold [mountings]. They were prepared for you on the day that you were born.
14 From the day that thou wast created thou [wast] with the cherub: I set thee on the holy mount of God; thou wast in the midst of the stones of fire.
I appointed [DOU] you to be like [MET] a strong angel to guard the people. [It was as though I put] you on my holy mountain, and you walked among fiery stones.
15 Thou wast faultless in thy days, from the day that thou wast created, until iniquity was found in thee.
You were completely good in all that you did, from the day that you were created/born, until you [started to] do wicked things.
16 Of the abundance of thy merchandise thou hast filled thy storehouses with iniquity, and hast sinned: therefore thou hast been cast down wounded from the mount of God, and the cherub has brought thee out of the midst of the stones of fire.
[Then] you became busy trading things, and you started to act violently, and you sinned. So I caused you to be disgraced; and the angel who was guarding you forced you to leave my holy mountain, forced you to leave your place among those fiery stones.
17 Thy heart has been lifted up because of thy beauty; thy knowledge has been corrupted with thy beauty: because of the multitude of thy sins I have cast thee to the ground, I have caused thee to be put to open shame before kings.
You were extremely proud because you were very handsome. Because you loved beautiful things, you did things that wise people do not do. [So] I threw you to the ground, and allowed [other] kings who saw you to laugh at you.
18 Because of the multitude of thy sins and the iniquities of thy merchandise, I have profaned thy sacred things; and I will bring fire out of the midst of thee, this shall devour thee; and I will make thee [to be] ashes upon thy land before all that see thee.
By committing many sins and by trading things dishonestly, you caused your places of worship to become unacceptable to me. So I caused a fire [to burn down your city]. [Your city] was burned completely; the people who were watching it saw that only ashes remained on the ground.
19 And all that know thee among the nations shall groan over thee: thou art gone to destruction, and thou shalt not exist any more.
All the people who knew what your [city was like previously] were appalled. Now [your city] has disappeared, and it will not exist any more.”’”
20 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
[Then] Yahweh gave me another message. [He said],
21 Son of man, set thy face against Sidon, and prophesy against it,
“You human, turn toward Sidon [city], and declare the terrible things that will happen to it.
22 and say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought judgments in thee, and I will be sanctified in thee.
Give [the people of Sidon] this message from [me], Yahweh the Lord: ‘I am your enemy, [you people of] Sidon, and by what I do to you, I will reveal that I am very great/glorious. When I punish you and reveal that I am holy, everyone who is watching that will know that it is I, Yahweh, [who have the power to do what I say that I will do].
23 Blood and death [shall be] in thy streets; and [men] wounded with swords shall fall in thee and on every side of thee; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
I will send a plague upon you, and I will send [enemies to come and] kill [MTY] you in your streets. They will attack you from every direction, and your people will be slaughtered inside the walls of your city. Then everyone will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].'
24 And there shall no more be in the house of Israel a thorn of bitterness and a pricking briar proceeding from them that are round about them, who dishonoured them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
No longer will those who live near you people of Israel [hurt you] like [MET] painful briers and sharp thorns [hurt people]. And then the Israeli people will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].”
25 Thus saith the Lord God; I will also gather Israel from the nations, among whom they have been scattered, and I will be sanctified among them, and before the peoples and nations: and they shall dwell upon their land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.
And this is [also] what Yahweh the Lord says: “Some day the people of Israel will live in their own land [again], the land that I gave to Jacob, who [also] served me. I will gather them from [distant] countries where I have scattered them. And I will reveal to the nations that I am holy among my people.
26 Yea, they shall dwell upon it safely, and they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and dwell securely, when I shall execute judgment on all that have dishonoured them, [even] on those [that are] round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and the God of their fathers.
My people will live safely in Israel; they will build houses and plant vineyards. And when I punish the nearby nations that despised them, they will know that it is I, Yahweh their God, [who has done it].”
