1. Tue: Isaiah 33-35
  2. Wed: 1 Samuel 7-12
  3. Thu: 2 Corinthians 1-3
Friday · Week 13
The Later Prophets

Ezekiel 26-27

Week 13 · about 11 min
  1. Sat: Psalms 9-16
  2. Sun: Exodus 10-13
  3. Mon: Mark 4-5

Ezekiel announces the fall of Tyre, the rich island trading city north of Israel.

Tyre, the Proud Ship That Sank

And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 26:14 (KJV)

When Jerusalem fell, Tyre cheered: “Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people.” Tyre saw a business opportunity. Ezekiel says nations will come against Tyre like waves, and its stones and timbers will be thrown into the sea until it’s a bare rock where fishermen dry their nets. Babylon besieged it for years. Centuries later, Alexander the Great built a causeway out to the island using rubble from the old city. Chapter 27 pictures Tyre as a magnificent ship with a cedar mast, linen sails from Egypt, and crews from all over the world. Then it sinks in the middle of the sea.

Reflect: Have you ever been secretly glad when a rival stumbled?

Ezekiel 26

1Now in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she who was the doorway of the peoples is broken; she is turned over to them; she who was full is made waste;

3For this cause the Lord has said, See, I am against you, O Tyre, and will send up a number of nations against you as the sea sends up its waves.

4And they will give the walls of Tyre to destruction and have its towers broken: and I will take even her dust away from her, and make her an uncovered rock

5She will be a place for the stretching out of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have said it, says the Lord: and her goods will be given over to the nations.

6And her daughters in the open country will be put to the sword: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

7For this is what the Lord has said: See, I will send up from the north Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre, with horses and war-carriages and with an army and great numbers of people.

8He will put to the sword your daughters in the open country: he will make strong walls against you and put up an earthwork against you, arming himself for war against you.

9He will put up his engines of war against your walls, and your towers will be broken down by his axes.

10Because of the number of his horses you will be covered with their dust: your walls will be shaking at the noise of the horsemen and of the wheels and of the war-carriages, when he comes through your doorways, as into a town which has been broken open.

11Your streets will be stamped down by the feet of his horses: he will put your people to the sword, and will send down the pillars of your strength to the earth.

12They will take by force all your wealth and go off with the goods with which you do trade: they will have your walls broken down and all the houses of your desire given up to destruction: they will put your stones and your wood and your dust deep in the water.

13I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your instruments of music will be gone for ever.

14I will make you an uncovered rock: you will be a place for the stretching out of nets; there will be no building you up again: for I the Lord have said it, says the Lord.

15This is what the Lord has said to Tyre: Will not the sea-lands be shaking at the sound of your fall, when the wounded give cries of pain, when men are put to the sword in you?

16Then all the rulers of the sea will come down from their high seats, and put away their robes and take off their clothing of needlework: they will put on the clothing of grief, they will take their seats on the earth, shaking with fear every minute and overcome with wonder at you.

17And they will send up a song of grief for you, and say to you, What destruction has come on you, how are you cut off from the sea, the noted town, which was strong in the sea, she and her people, causing the fear of them to come on all the dry land!

18Now the sea-lands will be shaking in the day of your fall; and all the ships on the sea will be overcome with fear at your going.

19For this is what the Lord has said: I will make you a waste town, like the towns which are unpeopled; when I make the deep come upon you, covering you with great waters.

20Then I will make you go down with those who go down into the underworld, to the people of the past, causing your living-place to be in the deepest parts of the earth, in places long unpeopled, with those who go down into the deep, so that there will be no one living in you; and you will have no glory in the land of the living.

21I will make you a thing of fear, and you will come to an end: even if you are looked for, you will not be seen again for ever, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 27

1The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

2And you, son of man, make a song of grief for Tyre;

3And say to Tyre, O you who are seated at the doorway of the sea, trading for the peoples with the great sea-lands, these are the words of the Lord: You, O Tyre, have said, I am a ship completely beautiful.

4Your builders have made your outlines in the heart of the seas, they have made you completely beautiful.

5They have made all your boards of fir-trees from Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make the supports for your sails.

6Of oak-trees from Bashan they have made your driving blades; they have made your floors of ivory and boxwood from the sea-lands of Kittim.

7The best linen with needlework from Egypt was your sail, stretched out to be a flag for you; blue and purple from the sea-lands of Elishah gave you shade.

8The people of Zidon and Arvad were your boatmen; the wise men of Zemer were in you; they were guiding your ships;

9The responsible men of Gebal and its wise men were in you, making your boards watertight: all the ships of the sea with their seamen were in you trading in your goods.

10Cush and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war, hanging up their body-covers and head-dresses of war in you: they gave you your glory.

11The men of Arvad in your army were on your walls, and were watchmen in your towers, hanging up their arms on your walls round about; they made you completely beautiful.

12Tarshish did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth; they gave silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods.

13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders; they gave living men and brass vessels for your goods.

14The people of Togarmah gave horses and war-horses and transport beasts for your goods.

15The men of Rodan were your traders: a great number of sea-lands did business with you: they gave you horns of ivory and ebony as an offering.

16Edom did business with you because of the great number of things which you made; they gave emeralds, purple, and needlework, and the best linen and coral and rubies for your goods.

17Judah and the land of Israel were your traders; they gave grain of Minnith and sweet cakes and honey and oil and perfume for your goods.

18Damascus did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth, with wine of Helbon and white wool.

19... for your goods: they gave polished iron and spices for your goods.

20Dedan did trade with you in cloths for the backs of horses.

21Arabia and all the rulers of Kedar did business with you; in lambs and sheep and goats, in these they did business with you.

22The traders of Sheba and Raamah did trade with you; they gave the best of all sorts of spices and all sorts of stones of great price and gold for your goods.

23Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traders of Asshur and all the Medes:

24These were your traders in beautiful robes, in rolls of blue and needlework, and in chests of coloured cloth, corded with cords and made of cedar-wood, in them they did trade with you.

25Tarshish ships did business for you in your goods: and you were made full, and great was your glory in the heart of the seas.

26Your boatmen have taken you into great waters: you have been broken by the east wind in the heart of the seas.

27Your wealth and your goods, the things in which you do trade, your seamen and those guiding your ships, those who make your boards watertight, and those who do business with your goods, and all your men of war who are in you, with all who have come together in you, will go down into the heart of the seas in the day of your downfall.

28At the sound of the cry of your ships' guides, the boards of the ship will be shaking.

29And all the boatmen, the seamen and those who are expert at guiding a ship through the sea, will come down from their ships and take their places on the land;

30And their voices will be sounding over you, and crying bitterly they will put dust on their heads, rolling themselves in the dust:

31And they will have the hair of their heads cut off because of you, and will put haircloth on their bodies, weeping for you with bitter grief in their souls, even with bitter sorrow.

32And in their weeping they will make a song of grief for you, sorrowing over you and saying, Who is like Tyre, who has come to an end in the deep sea?

33When your goods went out over the seas, you made numbers of peoples full; the wealth of the kings of the earth was increased with your great wealth and all your goods.

34Now that you are broken by the seas in the deep waters, your goods and all your people will go down with you.

35All the people of the sea-lands are overcome with wonder at you, and their kings are full of fear, their faces are troubled.

36Those who do business among the peoples make sounds of surprise at you; you have become a thing of fear, you have come to an end for ever.

Bible in Basic English (BBE). Bible in Basic English (BBE), public domain in the United States.