Ezekiel 28

1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

[Then] Yahweh gave me another message. [He said]:

2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart [is] lifted up, and thou hast said, I [am] a God, I sit [in] the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou [art] a man, and not God, though thou 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 Behold, thou [art] wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

[You think that] you are wiser than Daniel was, [and you think that] you can understand every secret.

4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into 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 great wisdom [and] by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

[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 GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

Therefore, this is what Yahweh the Lord says: “Because you think that you are as wise as a god,

7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

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 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of [them that are] slain in the midst of the seas.

They will bring you down to your grave; you will die violently like [MET] those who died in the sea.

9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I [am] God? but thou [shalt be] a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

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 die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD.

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 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Yahweh also gave me this message:

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in 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 hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone [was] thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

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 Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so: ] thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down 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] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till 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 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from 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 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

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 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold 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 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never [shalt] thou [be] 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 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

[Then] Yahweh gave me another message. [He said],

21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, 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 GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

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 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; 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 be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor [any] grieving thorn of all [that are] round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I [am] the Lord GOD.

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; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given 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 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD their God.

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].”