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,
So it was in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of Yahweh 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 Tyre has said against Jerusalem, 'Aha! The gates of the people are broken! She has turned to me; I will be filled up because she is ruined.'
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 the Lord Yahweh says this, 'Behold! I am against you, Tyre, and I will raise up many nations against you like the sea raises 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.
They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down her towers. I will sweep her dust away and make her like 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 will become a place for nets to dry out in the midst of the sea, since I have declared it—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—and she will become plunder 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].’
Her daughters who are in the fields will be slaughtered by the swords, and they will know that I am Yahweh.'
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 this is what Yahweh says: Behold, from the north I am bringing Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a great many people.
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 will kill your daughters in the field. He will set up a siege work and build a ramp against your walls and raise up shields 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 will place his battering rams to hit against your walls, and his tools will tear down 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.
His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake with the sound of horsemen, wagons, and chariots. When he enters your gates, he will enter as men come into a city whose walls have been broken down.
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).
The hooves of his horses will trample all of your streets. He will kill your people with the sword and your mighty stone pillars will fall to the ground.
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.
They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They will tear down your walls and destroy your luxurious homes. Your stones, your timber, and the rubble they will throw into the waters.
13 No longer will you sing noisy songs, and people will not play their harps any more.
I will stop the noise of your songs. The sound of your harps will 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].’
I will make you a bare rock, you will become a place where nets are spread out to dry. You will never be built again, for I, Lord Yahweh have spoken—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.
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.
The Lord Yahweh says this to Tyre, 'Will not the islands quake with the sound of your downfall, and with the groans of the wounded when the terrible slaughter is in your midst?
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.
Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and remove their robes and cast off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling, they will sit on the ground and tremble every moment, and they will be appalled because of 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.
They will lift up a lament for you and say to you, How you, who were inhabited by sailors, have been destroyed. The famous city that was so strong—it is now gone from the sea. The ones living in her once spread a terror about themselves upon everyone who lived near them.
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.”’
Now the coasts tremble on the day of your downfall. The islands in the sea are terrified, because you are no longer in your place.'
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 the Lord Yahweh says this: When I make you a desolate city, like the other cities that are not inhabited, when I raise up the deeps against you, and when the great waters cover 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.
then I will bring you down to the people of ancient times, like the others who have gone down into the pit; for I will make you live in the lowest realms of the earth as in ruins of ancient times. Because of this you will not come back and stand in the land of the living.
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 place disaster on you, and you will be no more forever. Then you will be sought, but you will never be found ever again—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.”
