Ezekiel 26
Introduction
Ezekiel 26 begins a three-chapter oracle against Tyre (chapters 26--28), the great Phoenician trading city on the Mediterranean coast. Tyre was one of the ancient world's most powerful commercial centers, famous for its purple dye, its skilled sailors, and its well-defended island fortress situated half a mile offshore. When Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC, Tyre did not mourn but gloated -- seeing the destruction of a rival as a commercial opportunity. Jerusalem had been a gateway for inland trade, and with that gate shattered, Tyre expected to absorb the traffic. This callous opportunism provoked God's oracle of judgment. The parallel oracle against Tyre in Isaiah 23 shares many of the same themes but comes from an earlier period.
The chapter unfolds in four movements. First, God announces the charge against Tyre and the sentence of destruction by "many nations," using the powerful image of waves crashing against a shore (vv. 1--6). Second, the prophecy narrows to name Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as the specific instrument of judgment, describing his siege in vivid military detail (vv. 7--14). Third, the surrounding coastal rulers respond with a haunting lament over Tyre's fall (vv. 15--18). Finally, the oracle reaches its climax with Tyre's descent into the Pit -- the realm of the dead -- where it will join other ruined civilizations in oblivion (vv. 19--21). The shift from "he" (Nebuchadnezzar) in verses 7--11 to "they" in verse 12 is significant: Nebuchadnezzar besieged mainland Tyre for thirteen years (585--573 BC) but never fully conquered the island. The "many nations" of verse 3 ultimately included Alexander the Great, who in 332 BC built a causeway to the island and razed it.
Tyre's Sin and God's Sentence (vv. 1--6)
1 In the eleventh month of the twelfth year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 "Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, 'Aha! The gate to the nations is broken; it has swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will be filled,' 3 therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Behold, O Tyre, I am against you, and I will raise up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and demolish her towers. I will scrape the soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She will become a place to spread nets in the sea, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. She will become plunder for the nations, 6 and the villages on her mainland will be slain by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.'
1 And it was in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 2 "Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, 'Aha! The gate of the peoples is shattered! It has swung open to me. I will be filled now that she is laid waste' -- 3 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am against you, Tyre, and I will raise up many nations against you, as the sea raises its waves. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down her towers. I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She will become a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. She will become plunder for the nations, 6 and her daughters in the open country will be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD."
Notes
The date formula in verse 1 presents a textual difficulty. The Hebrew reads בְּעַשְׁתֵּי עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה ("in the eleventh year"), though some translations render "twelfth year." The Masoretic Text lacks a specific month number -- it says simply "on the first of the month" without naming which month. Some manuscripts and the LXX supply "the twelfth month" or "the first month," and various translations handle this differently. The most natural reading of the Hebrew is "the eleventh year," which would place this oracle in 587/586 BC, around the time of Jerusalem's fall or shortly after. If the twelfth year is correct (following some textual traditions), the date would be 585 BC.
Tyre's exclamation הֶאָח ("Aha!") is an onomatopoeic expression of malicious glee, the same word used in Ezekiel 25:3 when Ammon gloated over the temple's destruction. Tyre's sin is not direct military aggression but opportunistic rejoicing at a neighbor's catastrophe -- a violation of the moral solidarity expected between peoples.
The phrase דַּלְתוֹת הָעַמִּים ("the gate/doors of the peoples") portrays Jerusalem as a pivotal hub in the international trade network. The word דַּלְתוֹת (literally "doors") suggests double doors of a city gate, implying that Jerusalem controlled a key passage for merchant caravans moving between Egypt, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and the Mediterranean coast. With those doors shattered, Tyre anticipated that trade would be redirected through its own port.
The sea-wave metaphor in verse 3 is doubly apt. God will bring nations against Tyre כְּהַעֲלוֹת הַיָּם לְגַלָּיו ("as the sea raises its waves"). Tyre was a sea power, and the relentless, successive waves foreshadow the successive empires -- Babylonian, Persian, Greek -- that would batter the city over centuries. The imagery also subtly evokes the primordial chaos waters that God alone controls.
The phrase צְחִיחַ סָלַע ("bare rock") in verse 4 carries a pointed irony. The word סֶלַע ("rock, crag") creates a wordplay with Tyre's own name, צֹר, which also means "rock." The very thing that made Tyre's identity -- its rocky island fortress -- would be all that remained: bare, scraped stone with nothing built upon it.
The "daughters" (בְּנוֹתֶיהָ) in verse 6 refers to the dependent settlements and villages on the mainland surrounding Tyre, sometimes called "Old Tyre" or "Ushu." These satellite towns would be the first to fall, since they lacked the natural protection of the island fortress. This recognition formula -- "they will know that I am the LORD" -- recurs throughout Ezekiel as the ultimate purpose of divine action: judgment serves revelation.
Nebuchadnezzar's Siege (vv. 7--12)
7 For this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great company of troops. 8 He will slaughter the villages of your mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp to your walls, and raise his shields against you. 9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his axes. 10 His multitude of horses will cover you in their dust. When he enters your gates as an army entering a breached city, your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots. 11 The hooves of his horses will trample all your streets. He will slaughter your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will plunder your wealth and pillage your merchandise. They will demolish your walls, tear down your beautiful homes, and throw your stones and timber and soil into the water.
7 For thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am bringing against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the north -- king of kings -- with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a vast assembly and a great army. 8 Your daughters in the open country he will kill with the sword. He will set up siege works against you, heap up a ramp against your walls, and raise a wall of shields against you. 9 He will aim the blows of his battering rams against your walls, and your towers he will demolish with his iron tools. 10 From the sheer mass of his horses, their dust will cover you. At the sound of horseman, wheel, and chariot, your walls will shake when he enters your gates as one enters a city that has been breached. 11 With the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets. Your people he will kill with the sword, and your mighty pillars will topple to the ground. 12 They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise. They will tear down your walls and demolish your fine houses, and your stones, your timber, and your soil they will cast into the water.
Notes
The title מֶלֶךְ מְלָכִים ("king of kings") applied to Nebuchadnezzar is not blasphemous but reflects standard ancient Near Eastern royal titulature. Babylonian and Assyrian kings regularly used this title (Akkadian shar sharrani), indicating sovereignty over vassal kings. The title is later applied to God himself in Daniel 2:37 and to Christ in Revelation 19:16, where it takes on ultimate theological significance.
The shift from singular "he" (Nebuchadnezzar, vv. 7--11) to plural "they" (v. 12) is a widely discussed feature of this chapter. Many interpreters see this as a deliberate prophetic telescoping: the singular describes what Nebuchadnezzar specifically will do (besiege the mainland), while the plural encompasses the broader succession of nations -- including Alexander the Great in 332 BC -- who would complete the destruction. Historically, Nebuchadnezzar's thirteen-year siege (585--573 BC) devastated mainland Tyre but could not capture the island. It was Alexander who famously built a causeway (using the rubble of mainland Tyre) to reach and destroy the island city, literally fulfilling verse 12 -- throwing "stones, timber, and soil into the water."
The Hebrew חַרְבוֹתָיו in verse 9 is worth pausing on. The word חֶרֶב typically means "sword," but here it likely refers to iron demolition tools or axes used in siege warfare (some translations render "axes," though the root is identical to "sword"). Some scholars read it as "his swords" used metaphorically for any cutting implement. The translation "iron tools" captures the broader destructive sense.
The מַצְּבוֹת עֻזֵּךְ ("pillars of your strength") in verse 11 could refer to sacred pillars or standing stones associated with Tyrian worship (Tyre was famous for its temples to Melqart/Heracles and Astarte), or to monumental pillars that symbolized the city's power. The famous temple of Melqart in Tyre was renowned for its two great pillars -- one of gold, one of emerald (according to Herodotus, Histories 2.44). Their fall to the ground signals the total collapse of Tyre's religious and civic identity.
Verse 12 mentions throwing אֲבָנַיִךְ וְעֵצַיִךְ וַעֲפָרֵךְ ("your stones, your timber, and your soil") into the water. This is what Alexander did in 332 BC: he dismantled the ruins of mainland Tyre and used the debris to construct a mole (causeway) across the half-mile channel to the island. The specificity of this detail -- building materials dumped into the sea -- has long been noted as a close prophetic correspondence.
Interpretations
Dispensational interpreters often point to Ezekiel 26 as a striking example of predictive prophecy fulfilled in precise historical detail -- the many nations, the scraping of soil, the stones cast into the sea -- arguing that its accuracy validates the supernatural origin of Scripture. Preterist and historicist interpreters generally agree that the prophecy was fulfilled through the successive conquests of Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander, though they may differ on whether verse 14's "never be rebuilt" applies to the ancient site specifically (which is now a peninsula due to Alexander's causeway) or represents prophetic hyperbole about Tyre's loss of greatness. Some critical scholars note that Ezekiel himself acknowledged in Ezekiel 29:18-20 that Nebuchadnezzar did not gain the expected plunder from Tyre, which they see as an honest prophetic reassessment, while others view the "many nations" framework as encompassing a longer horizon of fulfillment.
The Silencing of Tyre's Music (vv. 13--14)
13 So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard. 14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread the fishing nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.'
13 I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your lyres will be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock; you will become a place for spreading nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.
Notes
The verb וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי ("I will put an end to, I will cause to cease") comes from the root שָׁבַת, the same root behind "Sabbath" -- meaning to cease, to rest, to stop. There is a dark irony: the joyful cessation of work on the Sabbath is here transformed into the forced cessation of all celebration. Tyre's famous luxury and revelry will be silenced permanently.
The כִּנּוֹרַיִךְ ("your lyres") evokes Tyre's cultural richness. The כִּנּוֹר is the same instrument David played (1 Samuel 16:23). Tyre was renowned not only for trade but for the arts -- music, craftsmanship, and architectural beauty. The silencing of music is a recurring prophetic image for the total devastation of a city, used also of Babylon in Revelation 18:22, a passage that draws heavily on Ezekiel's Tyre oracles.
The phrase "never be rebuilt" (לֹא תִבָּנֶה עוֹד) is emphatic. The Niphal of בָּנָה ("to build") with the negative particle and עוֹד ("again, anymore") makes this a permanent decree. The repetition of the "bare rock" and "spreading nets" imagery from verse 4--5 creates an envelope structure (inclusio) that frames the Nebuchadnezzar oracle, reinforcing the finality of the judgment.
The combination of "I, the LORD, have spoken" with "declares the Lord GOD" is an emphatic double attestation of divine authority. The personal pronoun אֲנִי ("I") is added for emphasis -- it is not grammatically necessary but underscores that this is no human prediction but a divine decree backed by the character and power of YHWH himself.
Lament of the Coastlands (vv. 15--18)
15 This is what the Lord GOD says to Tyre: 'Will not the coastlands quake at the sound of your downfall, when the wounded groan at the slaughter in your midst? 16 All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled over you. 17 Then they will lament for you, saying, "How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men -- she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples! 18 Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your downfall; the islands in the sea are dismayed by your demise."'
15 Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your collapse, when the wounded groan, when slaughter rages in your midst? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones and remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, shuddering moment by moment, appalled at you. 17 They will raise a lament over you and say to you: "How you have perished, you who were inhabited from the seas, O renowned city, who was mighty on the sea -- she and her inhabitants -- who spread their terror upon all who dwelt nearby! 18 Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall, and the islands in the sea are horrified at your end."
Notes
The קִינָה ("lament, dirge") in verse 17 is a specific literary genre in Hebrew poetry, characterized by the limping 3:2 meter (qinah meter) that mimics the halting rhythm of grief. Ezekiel uses this form extensively -- see also the laments over the king of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:12-19) and over Pharaoh (Ezekiel 32:2-16). Placing the lament in the mouths of foreign kings is a pointed rhetorical move: even Tyre's allies and trading partners are made to acknowledge the justice and finality of the judgment.
The phrase נְשִׂיאֵי הַיָּם ("princes of the sea") refers to the rulers of the maritime city-states and trading colonies that depended on Tyre's commercial network. These would include the Phoenician colonies along the Mediterranean -- Sidon, Byblos, Carthage, and settlements in Cyprus, Sardinia, and Spain. Their descent from their thrones and removal of royal garments mirrors mourning rituals but also signals the collapse of an entire economic order.
The description of the princes clothing themselves in חֲרָדוֹת ("trembling, terror") is vivid -- terror is worn like a garment, replacing the fine embroidered robes (בִּגְדֵי רִקְמָתָם) they have just stripped off. The word רִקְמָה ("embroidery, multicolored work") is the same word used to describe Tyre's own luxury trade goods in Ezekiel 27:16, Ezekiel 27:24. Their finest products are exchanged for the garment of dread.
The phrase נוֹשֶׁבֶת מִיַּמִּים ("inhabited from the seas") is unusual. It likely means "peopled by seafarers" or "populated from the seas" -- that is, Tyre's population was drawn from maritime peoples and its very identity was inseparable from the sea. Some translators render this "dweller by the seas," but the preposition מִן ("from") suggests origin, not merely location.
The passage closely parallels the lament over Babylon in Revelation 18:9-19, where kings and merchants likewise weep and mourn over a fallen commercial superpower. John's Apocalypse draws extensively on Ezekiel 26--28 in constructing its portrait of Babylon the Great, suggesting that Tyre serves as a prophetic archetype for any civilization that elevates commercial power to the level of ultimate allegiance.
Descent to the Pit (vv. 19--21)
19 For this is what the Lord GOD says: 'When I make you a desolate city like other deserted cities, and when I raise up the deep against you so that the mighty waters cover you, 20 then I will bring you down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity. I will make you dwell in the earth below like the ancient ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited or set in splendor in the land of the living. 21 I will make you an object of horror, and you will be no more. You will be sought, but will never be found,' declares the Lord GOD."
19 For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a desolate city, like cities that are no longer inhabited, when I raise up the deep over you and the great waters cover you, 20 then I will bring you down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the world below, among the ruins of antiquity, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you will not be inhabited. But I will set beauty in the land of the living. 21 I will make you an object of horror, and you will be no more. You will be sought but never found again, forever, declares the Lord GOD.
Notes
The תְּהוֹם ("the deep") in verse 19 is the same word used in Genesis 1:2 for the primordial deep over which the Spirit of God hovered. Here God reverses creation for Tyre: instead of ordering the waters and raising dry land, he releases the deep to swallow the city. This is cosmic judgment expressed in creation-reversal language: what God once ordered out of chaos, he now allows the chaos to reclaim.
The בּוֹר ("Pit") in verse 20 is a term for the underworld or the realm of the dead, synonymous with Sheol. The phrase יוֹרְדֵי בוֹר ("those who descend to the Pit") appears frequently in Ezekiel's oracles against the nations (Ezekiel 31:14, Ezekiel 31:16, Ezekiel 32:18, Ezekiel 32:24-30) and in Isaiah 14:15, Psalm 28:1, and Psalm 88:4. The Pit is not merely death but oblivion -- the place where once-great powers are forgotten.
The phrase עַם עוֹלָם ("the people of antiquity/eternity") refers to ancient civilizations that have passed into oblivion. Tyre will join the ranks of long-vanished empires, taking its place among peoples no one remembers. The word עוֹלָם can mean either "eternity" or "long ago, antiquity" depending on context; here it points backward in time to forgotten ages.
Verse 20b presents a significant interpretive difficulty. The Hebrew וְנָתַתִּי צְבִי בְּאֶרֶץ חַיִּים literally reads "and I will set beauty/glory in the land of the living." Some translations take this as what Tyre will no longer enjoy ("set in splendor in the land of the living"), but the Hebrew syntax suggests a contrast: while Tyre descends to the Pit, God will establish something beautiful in the land of the living -- possibly a reference to the restoration of God's own people. The LXX reads differently here. The translation above follows the Hebrew more literally to preserve the ambiguity and the hint of a positive counterpart to Tyre's destruction.
The final verse's declaration בַּלָּהוֹת אֶתְּנֵךְ ("I will make you an object of horror") uses a word that denotes sudden, overwhelming terror. The concluding phrase -- "you will be sought but never found again, forever" -- is a statement of total obliteration. Unlike Jerusalem, which God promises to restore, Tyre's judgment is final and irrevocable. The accumulation of terms for permanence (עוֹד "again," לְעוֹלָם "forever") closes the oracle with absolute finality.
The imagery of descent and cosmic flooding in this section also anticipates the New Testament's depiction of divine judgment. Jesus' warning that Tyre and Sidon would fare better in the judgment than the unrepentant cities of Galilee (Matthew 11:21-22) presupposes the gravity of the judgment described here, while ironically suggesting that even Tyre's guilt was less than that of those who rejected the Messiah firsthand.