Ezekiel 26

1 And it cometh to pass, in the eleventh year, in the first of the month, there hath been a word of Jehovah unto me, saying: 'Son of man,

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,

2 Because that Tyre hath said of Jerusalem: Aha, she hath been broken, the doors of the peoples, She hath turned round unto me, I am filled — she hath been laid waste,

“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!’

3 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I [am] against thee, O Tyre, And have caused to come up against thee many nations, As the sea causeth its billows to come up.

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.

4 And they have destroyed the walls of Tyre, And they have broken down her towers, And I have scraped her dust from her, And made her for a clear place of a rock.

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.

5 A spreading place of nets she is in the midst of the sea, For I — I have spoken — an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And she hath been for a spoil to nations.

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.

6 And her daughters who [are] in the field, by sword they are slain, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah,

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].’

7 For, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am bringing in unto Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, From the north — a king of kings, With horse, and with chariot, and with horsemen, Even an assembly, and a numerous people.

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.

8 Thy daughters in the field by sword he slayeth, And he hath made against thee a fort, And hath poured out against thee a mount, And hath raised against thee a buckler.

[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].

9 And a battering-ram before him he placeth against thy walls, And thy towers he breaketh by his weapons.

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.

10 From the abundance of his horses cover thee doth their dust, From the noise of horseman, and wheel, and rider, Shake do thy walls, in his coming in to thy gates, As the coming into a city broken-up.

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.

11 With hoofs of his horses he treadeth all thine out-places, Thy people by sword he doth slay, And the pillars of thy strength to the earth come down.

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).

12 And they have spoiled thy wealth, And they have plundered thy merchandise, And they have thrown down thy walls, And thy desirable houses they break down, And thy stones, and thy wood, and thy dust, In the midst of the waters they place.

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.

13 And I have caused the noise of thy songs to cease, And the voice of thy harps is heard no more.

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

14 And I have given thee up for a clear place of a rock, A spreading-place of nets thou art, Thou art not built up any more, For I, Jehovah, I have spoken, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

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].’

15 Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: Do not — from the noise of thy fall, In the groaning of the wounded, In the slaying of the slaughter in thy midst, The isles shake?

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.

16 And come down from off their thrones have all princes of the sea, And they have turned aside their robes, And their embroidered garments strip off, Trembling they put on, on the earth they sit, And they have trembled every moment, And they have been astonished at thee,

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.

17 And have lifted up for thee a lamentation, And said to thee: How hast thou perished, That art inhabited from the seas, The praised city, that was strong in the sea, She and her inhabitants, Who put their terror on all her inhabitants!

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.

18 Now they tremble, is it not the day of thy fall? Troubled have been the isles that [are] in the sea, at thine outgoing.

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.”’

19 For thus said the Lord Jehovah: In my making thee a city wasted, Like cities that have not been inhabited, In bringing up against thee the deep, Then covered thee have the great waters.

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,

20 And I have caused thee to go down, With those going down to the pit, Unto the people of old, And I have caused thee to dwell in the land, The lower parts — in wastes of old, With those going down to the pit, So that thou art not inhabited, And I have given beauty in the land of the living.

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.

21 Wastes I do make thee, and thou art not, And thou art sought, and art not found any more — to the age, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

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].’”