Ezekiel 27–28

A Lament for Doomed Tyre

27And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{a 2}“And you, son of man,^b raise a lament against Tyre. ³And you must say to Tyre, the one who sits at the entrance of the sea as the merchant of the peoples to the many coastlands, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh:

Tyre, you yourself said^c

“I am perfect in beauty!”^d

⁴In the heart of the seas are your boundaries;

your builders perfected your beauty.

⁵They built with pine trees from Senir

all of your boards for you;

they took cedars from Lebanon

to make a sailing mast for you.^e

⁶They made your oars

with oaks from Bashan;

your deck they made with inlaid ivory,

with cypress trees from the coastlands of Cyprus.^f

⁷Your sail was fine linen with colorful weaving from Egypt

to serve as a banner for you;^g

blue and purple cloth from the coastlands of Cyprus^h

was your awning.

⁸The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvan

were your rowers;

your skilled men,ⁱ O Tyre, were from your own people,^j

and they were your seamen.

⁹The elders of Gebal and its skilled men^k were among you^l

as the repairers of the seam of your boat;

all of the ships of the sea and their mariners were among you^m

to barter your wares.

¹⁰Persia and Lud and Put

were among your soldiers;ⁿ

small shield and helmet hung among you^o

and gave to you your adornment.

¹¹The people^p of Arvan and Helech

were on your walls all around,

and Gammadites

were in your towers.

They hung their quivers^q on your walls all around;

they perfected your beauty.

¹²“ ‘Tarshish was your trader; from the abundance of all of their wealth, with silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your merchandise. ¹³Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders; in exchange for people^r and an object of bronze they gave you your wares. ¹⁴From Beth Togarmah they exchanged horses and war horses and mules for your wares. ¹⁵The people^s of Dedan were trading with you, many coastlands composed the region of your influence;^t they brought back horns of ivory and ebony as your payment. ¹⁶Edom^u was trading with you because of the abundance of your products, trading with malachite, purple wool yarn and colorful weaving, and fine white fabric and black corals and rubies; all these they exchange for your merchandise. ¹⁷Judah and the land of Israel were trading with you with wheat from Minnith and millet and honey and olive oil and balm; all these they gave for your wares. ¹⁸Damascus was trading with you because of^v the abundance of your products, because of the abundance of all of your wealth, trading with the wine of Helbon and white wool. ¹⁹Vedan and Javan from Uzal, they exchanged wrought iron, cinnamon,^w and reed spice for your merchandise; all this was for your wares. ²⁰Dedan was trading with you, with garments of woven material for riding. ²¹Arabia and all of the leaders of Kedar were your customers;^x with young rams and adult rams and goats they were trading with them with you. ²²The traders of Sheba and Raamah were trading with you, with the finest of every spice and with every precious stone and gold; they exchanged all these for your merchandise. ²³Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traders of Sheba, Assyria, and Kilmad were trading with you. ²⁴They were trading with you in finery, in mantles of blue cloth and colorful embroidered work and with rugs of variegated cloth in twisted cords and knotted tightly; these were among your merchandise.^{y 25}The ships of Tarshish were carrying for you your wares, and you were filled, and you became very heavy in the heart of the seas.

²⁶“ ‘Into many waters

the rowers brought you;

but the east wind^z wrecked you

in the heart of the seas.

²⁷Your wealth and your merchandise, your wares,

your mariners, and your seamen,

your shipwrights^a and the barterers of your wares

and all of your soldiers^b who are in you,

along^c with all of your crew who are in the midst of you,

they will fall in the heart of the seas on the day of your downfall.

²⁸At the sound of the shout^d of your seamen,

the pasturelands will shake.

²⁹And they will go down from their ships,

all of those holding an oar,

mariners, all of the seamen of the sea

will stand on the land,

³⁰and they will lament^e over you with their voice,

and they will cry out^f bitterly,

and they will throw^g dust on their heads,

and they will roll^h in the dust.

³¹They will shave themselves bald for your sake,ⁱ

and they will dress^j themselves in sackcloth,

and they will weep^k over you with a bitterness of soul^l

and with bitter wailing.

³²And they will raise^m over you with their wailing a lament,

and they will chantⁿ a lament over you:

‘Who is like Tyre,

like this destruction in the midst of the sea?’

³³When your merchandise went out from the seas,

you satisfied many peoples with the abundance of your wealth,

and by your wares

you made rich the kings of the world.

³⁴Now you are broken by seas

in the depths of waters;

your wares and all of your crew

in the midst of you have sunk.

³⁵All of the inhabitants of the coastlands

are appalled over you,

and their kings shudder^o in horror;

they distort their faces!^p

³⁶The traders among the peoples hiss over you;

you have become a horror,

and you shall be no more forever!’ ”^q

A Prophecy Aimed at the King of Tyre

28And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{a 2}“Son of man,^b say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“Because your heart was haughty,

and you said, ‘I am a god;

I sit in the seat of the gods,

I sit in the heart of the seas!’

But^c you are a human, not a god,

and you gave your heart to be like the heart of a god.

³Look, are you wiser than Daniel,

so that no secret^d is hidden from you?

⁴By your wisdom and by your understanding

you have gained for yourself wealth,

and you have amassed gold and silver

in your treasuries.

⁵By the abundance of your wisdom in your trading

you have increased your wealth

and your heart was proud in^e your wealth.” ’ ”

⁶Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“Because of your regarding your mind^f

like the mind^g of a god,

⁷therefore look! I am bringing strangers over you,

the most ruthless of the peoples,

and they will draw their swords against the beauty^h of your wisdom,

and they will defile your splendor.

⁸They will thrust you down to the pit,

and you will die a violent deathⁱ

in the heart of the seas.

⁹Will you indeed still say^j “I am a god!”

before the face of your killers?^k

And in fact you are a human^l and not a god

in the hand of those who pierce you.^m

¹⁰You will die the death of the uncircumcised

by the hand of strangers,

for I myselfⁿ have spoken!” declares^o the Lord Yahweh.

¹¹And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{p 12}“Son of man,^q raise a lament over the king of Tyre, and you must say to him, ‘thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“You were a perfect model of^r an example,

full of wisdom and perfect of beauty.

¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God,

and every precious stone was your adornment:

carnelian, topaz and moonstone,^s

turquoise, onyx and jasper,

sapphire,^t malachite and emerald.

And gold was the craftsmanship of your settings

and your mountings in you;

on the day when you were created they were prepared.

¹⁴You were an anointed guardian cherub,

and I placed you on God’s holy mountain;^u

you walked in the midst of stones of fire.

¹⁵You were blameless in your ways

from the day when you were created,^v

until wickedness was found in you.

¹⁶In the abundance of your trading,

they filled the midst of you with violence, and you sinned;

and I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,

and I expelled you, the guardian^w cherub,

from the midst of the stones of fire.

¹⁷Your heart was proud because of your beauty;

you ruined your wisdom because of your splendor.

I threw you on the ground before^x kings;

I have exposed you for viewing.^y

¹⁸From the abundance of your iniquities

in the dishonesty of your trading,

I profaned your sanctuaries

and I brought fire from your midst;

it consumed you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth

before the eyes of everyone who sees you.^z

¹⁹All who know you^a among the peoples

are appalled over you;

you have become as horrors,

and you shall cease to exist forever.” ’ ”^b

²⁰And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{c 21}“Son of man,^d set your face toward Sidon and prophesy against it, ²²and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“Look! I am against you, Sidon,

and I display my glory in the midst of you,

and they will know that I am Yahweh

when I execute my judgments,^e

and I will show myself holy within it.

²³And I will send into it a plague,

and blood will be in its streets.

And the dead will fall in the midst of her

by the sword that is against it from all around;

and they will know that I am Yahweh.

²⁴And there will not be any longer^f a painful thorn and a sharp thornbush for^g the house of Israel from anywhere around them^h from those who are despising them,ⁱ and they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.” ’ ”

²⁵Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples to which they were scattered about in them, and I show myself holy in^j them before the eyes of the nations, then they will live on their soil, which I gave to my servant Jacob. ²⁶And they will live on it in safety, and they will build houses, and they will plant vineyards, and they will live in safety when I execute my judgments on all those who despise them from all around them,^k and then they will know that I am Yahweh their God.”