Ezekiel 26

1 Almost twelve [after we had been taken to Babylonia], on the first day of the month, Yahweh gave me another message. He said to me,

And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first [day] of the month, [that] the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 “You human, [the people of] Tyre [city] shouted joyfully and said about Jerusalem, ‘[Jerusalem, ] the city from which many traders/merchants went to many nations, is now destroyed. And now people from all over the world will come to us to buy and sell things. Because Jerusalem has now been ruined, we will prosper!’

Son of man, because Sor has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is crushed: the nations are destroyed: she is turned to me: she that was full is made desolate:

3 Therefore, this is what [I, ] Yahweh the Lord, say: ‘I am now the enemy of [you people of] Tyre. I will [the armies of] many nations to come and attack your [city], like the waves of the sea beat against the shores.

therefore thus says the Lord; Behold, I am against you, O Sor, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea comes up with its waves.

4 Their soldiers will destroy the walls around Tyre and tear down its towers. Tyre will become a place where people from many nations steal valuable things, [and then the city will be completely destroyed]. Then they will scrape away the rubble and cause the city to become a bare rock.

And they shall cast down the walls of Sor, and shall cast down your towers: and I will scrape her dust from off her, and make her a bare rock.

5 Out in the sea, Tyre will become an island where men spread [their fishing] nets to dry them. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh the Lord, have predicted it.

She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for repairing nets: for I have spoken [it], says the Lord: and it shall be a spoil for the nations.

6 The people in small villages on the coast near Tyre will be killed [their enemies’] swords. Then people will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].’

And her daughters [which are] in the field shall be slain with the sword, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

7 This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, [is going to happen]: ‘From the north, I am going to bring the most powerful king [in the world], King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, [with his army] to attack Tyre. They will bring horses and chariots, and men who ride the horses [and men who drive the chariots]; it will be a huge army.

For thus says the Lord; Behold, I [will] bring up against you, O Sor, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon from the north: he is a king of kings, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and a concourse of very many nations.

8 [In the battles in the small villages] on the coast, their soldiers will kill [many] people with their swords. [Then] they will set up devices to batter the wall around the city of Tyre, and they will build a dirt ramp up to the top of the wall, and they will all hold up shields [to protect themselves from arrows being shot from the ground].

He shall kill your daughters that are in the field with the sword, and shall set a watch against you, and build forts around you, and carry a rampart round against you, and set up warlike works, and array his spears against you.

9 The king will direct the soldiers who operate the (rams/things) to batter the walls, and who will use their iron bars to tear down the towers in the wall.

He shall cast down with his swords your walls and your towers.

10 The king will have a huge number of horses, [the stamping of their hooves will result in] the city being covered with dust. [It will be as though] the walls will tremble because of the noise made by the horses, the [supply] wagons, and the chariots when they enter the city where the walls have been broken down.

By reason of your multitude of his horses their dust shall cover you, and by reason of the sound of his horsemen and the wheels of his chariots the walls shall be shaken, when he enters into your gates, as one entering into a city from the plain.

11 The horses will trample all of the [of the city] with their hooves. The soldiers will kill the people with their swords; and they will cause your strong pillars to (collapse/fall to the ground).

With the hoofs of his horses they shall trample all your streets: he shall kill your people with the sword, and shall bring down to the ground the support of your strength.

12 They will take away all the people’s valuable possessions and steal the things that the merchants sell. They will tear down the walls of the houses and destroy their fine houses. Then they will throw into the sea the stones [from the walls] of those houses and the timber and the rubble.

And he shall prey upon your power, and plunder your substance, and shall cast down your walls, and break down your pleasant houses: and he shall cast your stones and your timber and your dust into the midst of your sea.

13 No longer will you sing noisy songs, and people will not play their harps any more.

And he shall destroy the multitude of your musicians, and the sound of your lutes shall be heard no more.

14 The enemy soldiers will cause the city to become a bare rock and [only] a place where men spread [their fishing] nets. And the city will never be rebuilt. [Those things will surely happen] because [I], Yahweh the Lord, have [that they will happen].’

And I will make you a bare rock: you shall be a place to spread nets upon; you shall be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken [it], says the Lord.

15 This is [also] what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say about [the people of] Tyre: ‘When the wounded [people in Tyre] groan and many people are slaughtered and the city is destroyed, [it will surely be as though] [RHQ] the areas along the coast will tremble.

For thus says the Lord God to Sor; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of your fall, while the wounded are groaning, while they have drawn a sword in the midst of you?

16 Then all the kings [in the cities] along the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and their embroidered clothes. They will be terrified, and they will sit on the ground, trembling. They will be appalled because of what has happened to the city of Tyre.

And all the princes of the nations of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and shall take off their crowns from their heads, and shall take off their embroidered raiment: they shall be utterly amazed; they shall sit upon the ground, and fear their [own] destruction, and shall groan over you.

17 Then they will sing a sad song about the city, and they will sing this: “The famous city [APO], in which many [who sailed on] the seas lived, is now destroyed! The people of that city had great power [because they had many ships that sailed] on the seas; they caused all the people who lived near them to be terrified.

And they shall take up a lamentation for you, and shall say to you, How are you destroyed from out of the sea, the renowned city, that brought her terror upon all her inhabitants.

18 Now on the day when that city is destroyed, [it is as though the people in] the areas along the coast tremble and the [the people on the] islands in the sea are terrified because of that city being ruined.”’

And the isles shall be alarmed at the day of your fall.

19 This is also what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: ‘When I cause the city [of Tyre] to become desolate/empty, like [other] cities in which people no [longer] live, and when I cause the huge waves of the sea to cover it,

For thus says the Lord God; When I shall make the city desolate, as the cities that shall not be inhabited, when I have brought the deep up upon you,

20 then I will bring the people of that city down to be with those who have gone down to where the dead people are, people who lived long ago. I will cause them to remain in the place below the earth that is like old/ancient ruins, with those who have gone down to that pit [previously], and they will never return to the earth, to where people are alive.

and great waters shall cover you; and I shall bring you down to them that go down to the pit, to the people of old time, and shall cause you to dwell in the depths of the earth, as in everlasting desolation, with them that go down to the pit, that you may not be inhabited, nor stand upon the land of life;

21 I will cause them to die in a horrible way (OR, people will be very afraid because of what happens to that city), and that will be the end of (them/their lives). People will search for that city but it will no longer exist. [That is what I, ] Yahweh the Lord, declare [will happen].’”

I will make you a destruction, and you shall be no more for ever, says the Lord God.