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Tyre, the Door to the Seas

27 The word of the Lord came to me again. He said, “Son of man,[a] sing this sad song about Tyre. Say this about Tyre: ‘Tyre, you are the door to the seas. You are the merchant for many nations. You travel to many countries along the coast. This is what the Lord God says:

“Tyre, you think that you are so beautiful.
    You think you are perfectly beautiful!
The Mediterranean Sea is the border around your city.
    Your builders made you perfectly beautiful,
    like the ships that sail from you.
Your builders used cypress trees
    from the mountains of Senir to make your planks.
They used cedar trees from Lebanon
    to make your mast.
They used oak trees from Bashan
    to make your oars.
They used pine trees from Cyprus
    to make the cabin on your deck.[b]
    They decorated that shelter with ivory.
For your sail, they used colorful linen made in Egypt.
    That sail was your flag.
The coverings over your cabin were blue and purple.
    They came from the coast of Cyprus.[c]
Men from Sidon and Arvad rowed your boats for you.
    Tyre, your wise men were the pilots on your ships.
The elders and wise men from Byblos[d]
    were on board to help put caulking[e] between the boards on your ship.
All the ships of the sea and their sailors
    came to trade and do business with you.

10 “‘Men from Persia, Lud, and Put were in your army. They were your men of war who hung their shields and helmets on your walls. They brought honor and glory to your city. 11 Men from Arvad and Cilicia were guards standing on the wall around your city. Men from Gammad were in your towers. They hung their shields on the walls around your city and made your beauty complete.

12 “‘Tarshish was one of your best customers. They traded silver, iron, tin, and lead for all the wonderful things you sold. 13 People in Greece, Turkey, and the area around the Black Sea traded with you. They traded slaves and bronze for the things you sold. 14 People from the nation[f] of Togarmah traded horses, war horses, and mules for the things you sold. 15 The people of Rhodes[g] traded with you. You sold your things in many places. People brought ivory tusks and ebony wood to pay you. 16 Aram traded with you because you had so many good things. They traded emeralds, purple cloth, fine needlework, fine linen, coral, and rubies for the things you sold.

17 “‘The people in Judah and Israel traded with you. They paid for the things you sold with the wheat, olives, early figs, honey, oil, and balm.[h] 18 Damascus was a good customer. They traded with you for the many wonderful things you had. They traded wine from Helbon and white wool for those things. 19 Damascus traded wine from Uzal for the things you sold. They paid with wrought iron, cassia, and sugar cane. 20 Dedan provided good business and traded with you for saddle blankets and riding horses. 21 Arabia and all the leaders of Kedar traded lambs, rams, and goats for your goods. 22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you. They traded all the best spices and every kind of precious stone and gold for your goods. 23 Haran, Canneh, Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Kilmad traded with you. 24 They paid with the finest clothing, blue cloth, cloth with fine needlework, rugs of many colors, and the strongest ropes. These were the things they traded with you. 25 The ships from Tarshish carried the things you sold.

“‘Tyre, you are like one of those cargo ships.
    You are on the sea, loaded with many riches.
26 Your oarsmen rowed you far out to sea.
    But a powerful east wind will destroy your ship at sea.
27 All your wealth will spill into the sea.
    Your wealth—the things you buy and sell—will spill into the sea.
Your whole crew—sailors, pilots, and the men who put caulking between the boards on your ship—
    will spill into the sea.
The merchants and soldiers in your city
    will all sink into the sea.
That will happen on the day
    that you are destroyed!

28 “‘You send your merchants to faraway places.
    Those places will shake with fear when they hear your pilots’ cry!
29 Your whole crew will jump ship.
    The sailors and pilots will jump ship and swim to the shore.
30 They will be very sad about you.
    They will cry, throw dust on their heads, and roll in ashes.
31 They will shave their heads for you.
    They will put on sackcloth.
They will cry for you like someone crying for someone who died.

32 “‘And in their loud crying they will sing this sad song about you:

“‘No one is like Tyre!
    Tyre is destroyed, in the middle of the sea!
33 Your merchants sailed across the seas.
    You satisfied many people with your great wealth and the things you sold.
    You made the kings of the earth rich!
34 But now you are broken by the seas
    and by the deep waters.
All the things you sell
    and all your people have fallen.
35 All the people living on the coast
    are shocked about you.
Their kings are terrified.
    Their faces show their shock.
36 The merchants in other nations whistle about you.
What happened to you will frighten people,
    because you were destroyed.
    You are gone forever.’”

Tyre Thinks It Is Like a God

28 The word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Son of man,[i] say to the ruler of Tyre, ‘This is what the Lord God says:

“‘You are very proud!
    And you say, “I am a god!
I sit on the seat of gods
    in the middle of the seas.”

“‘But you are a man and not God!
    You only think you are a god.
You think you are wiser than Daniel[j]
    and no secret is hidden from you.
Through your wisdom and understanding
    you have gotten riches for yourself.
And you put gold and silver
    in your treasuries.
Through your great wisdom and trade,
    you have made your riches grow.
And now you are proud
    because of those riches.

“‘So this is what the Lord God says:
Tyre, you thought you were like a god.
I will bring strangers to fight against you.
    They are most terrible among the nations!
They will pull out their swords
    and use them against the beautiful things your wisdom brought you.
    They will ruin your glory.
They will bring you down to the grave.
    You will be like a sailor who died at sea.
That person will kill you.
    Will you still say, “I am a god”?
No, he will have you in his power!
    You will see that you are a man, not God!
10 Strangers will treat you like a foreigner[k] and kill you,
    because I gave the command!’”
This is what the Lord God said.

11 The word of the Lord came to me. He said, 12 “Son of man, sing this sad song about the king of Tyre. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord God says:

“‘You were the perfect man—
    so full of wisdom and perfectly handsome.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God.
You had every precious stone—
    rubies, topaz, and diamonds,
    beryls, onyx, and jasper,
    sapphires, turquoise, and emeralds.
And each of these stones was set in gold.
    You were given this beauty on the day you were created.
    God made you strong.
14 You were one of the chosen Cherubs
    who spread your wings over my throne.
I put you on the holy mountain of God.
    You walked among the jewels that sparkled like fire.
15 You were good and honest when I created you,
    but then you became evil.
16 Your business brought you many riches.
    But they also put cruelty inside you, and you sinned.
So I treated you like something unclean
    and threw you off the mountain of God.
You were one of the chosen Cherubs
    who spread your wings over my throne.
But I forced you to leave the jewels
    that sparkled like fire.
17 Your beauty made you proud.
    Your glory ruined your wisdom.
So I threw you down to the ground,
    and now other kings stare at you.
18 You did many wrong things.
You were a very crooked merchant.
    In this way you made the holy places unclean.
So I brought fire from inside you.
    It burned you!
You burned to ashes on the ground.
    Now everyone can see your shame.

19 “‘All the people in other nations
    were shocked about what happened to you.
What happened to you will make people very afraid.
    You are finished!’”

The Message Against Sidon

20 The word of the Lord came to me. He said, 21 “Son of man, look toward Sidon and speak for me against that place. 22 Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:

“‘I am against you, Sidon!
    Your people will learn to respect me.
I will punish Sidon.
    Then people will know that I am the Lord.
Then they will learn that I am holy,
    and they will treat me that way.
23 I will send disease and death to Sidon,
    and many people inside the city will die.
Soldiers outside the city will kill many people.
    Then people will know that I am the Lord!

The Nations Will Stop Laughing at Israel

24 “‘Then the surrounding nations that hate Israel will no longer be like stinging nettles[l] and painful thorns. And they will know that I am the Lord God.’”

25 This is what the Lord God said: “I scattered the people of Israel among other nations, but I will gather the family of Israel together again. Then the nations will know that I am holy, and they will treat me that way. At that time the people of Israel will live in their land—I gave that land to my servant Jacob. 26 They will live safely in the land. They will build houses and plant vineyards. I will punish the nations around them that hated them. Then the people of Israel will live in safety, and they will know that I am the Lord their God.”

The Message Against Egypt

29 On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of exile,[m] the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Son of man,[n] look toward Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Speak for me against him and Egypt. Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:

“‘I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
    You are the great monster[o] lying beside the Nile River.
You say, “This is my river!
    I made this river!”

4-5 “‘But I will put hooks in your jaws.
    The fish in the Nile River will stick to your scales.
I will pull you and your fish up
    out of your rivers and onto the dry land.
You will fall on the ground,
    and no one will pick you up or bury you.
I will give you to the wild animals and birds.
    You will be their food.
Then all the people living in Egypt
    will know that I am the Lord!

“‘Why will I do these things?
Because the people of Israel leaned on Egypt for support,
    but Egypt was only a weak blade of grass.
The people of Israel leaned on Egypt for support,
    but Egypt only pierced their hands and shoulder.
They leaned on you for support,
    but you broke and twisted their back.’”

So this is what the Lord God says:
“I will bring a sword against you.
    I will destroy all your people and animals.
Egypt will be empty and destroyed.
    Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

God said, “Why will I do these things? Because you said, ‘This is my river. I made this river.’ 10 So I am against you. I am against the many branches of your Nile River. I will destroy Egypt completely. The cities will be empty from Migdol to Aswan and as far as the border of Ethiopia. 11 No person or animal will pass through Egypt. Nothing will pass through or settle there for 40 years. 12 I will destroy Egypt. The cities will be in ruins for 40 years! I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. I will make them strangers[p] in foreign lands.”

13 This is what the Lord God says: “I will scatter the people of Egypt among many nations. But at the end of 40 years, I will gather those people together again. 14 I will bring back the Egyptian captives. I will bring back the Egyptians to the land of Pathros, to the land where they were born. But their kingdom will not be important. 15 It will be the least important kingdom. It will never again lift itself above the other nations. I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations. 16 And the family of Israel will never again depend on Egypt. The Israelites will remember their sin—they will remember that they turned to Egypt for help and not to God, and they will know that I am the Lord God.”

Babylon Will Get Egypt

17 On the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year of exile,[q] the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 18 “Son of man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army fight hard against Tyre. They shaved every soldier’s head. Every shoulder was rubbed bare from carrying heavy loads. Nebuchadnezzar and his army worked hard to defeat Tyre, but they got nothing from all that hard work.” 19 So this is what the Lord God says: “I will give Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and he will carry away the people. He will take the many valuable things in Egypt to pay his army. 20 I will give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as a reward for the hard work he did for me.” This is what the Lord God said!

21 “On that day I will make the family of Israel strong. So Ezekiel, I will let you speak to them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 27:2 Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person” or “a human being.” Here, it is a way of addressing Ezekiel.
  2. Ezekiel 27:6 deck The floor of a ship.
  3. Ezekiel 27:7 Cyprus Literally, “Elishah.” This might be the area near Enkomi, Cyprus, or it might be the Greek islands.
  4. Ezekiel 27:9 Byblos Literally, “Gebal.”
  5. Ezekiel 27:9 caulking Often a mixture of tar and rope that was put between the boards to make a ship watertight so that it would not leak. Also in verse 27.
  6. Ezekiel 27:14 nation Literally, “house.” This might mean the royal family of that country.
  7. Ezekiel 27:15 Rhodes Or “Dedan.” See verse 20.
  8. Ezekiel 27:17 balm An ointment from some kinds of trees and plants. It is used as medicine.
  9. Ezekiel 28:2 Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person” or “a human being.” Here, it is a way of addressing Ezekiel. Also in verses 12, 21.
  10. Ezekiel 28:3 Daniel A wise man from ancient times. This might be Daniel from the Bible, or the Danel mentioned in the writings from Ras Shamra.
  11. Ezekiel 28:10 foreigner Literally, “uncircumcised.” This means a person who did not share in the agreement God made with Israel. See “circumcise, circumcision” in the Word List.
  12. Ezekiel 28:24 nettles Plants covered with stinging hairs.
  13. Ezekiel 29:1 tenth year of exile This was the winter of 587 B.C.
  14. Ezekiel 29:2 Son of man This was usually just a way of saying “a person” or “a human being.” Here, it is a way of addressing Ezekiel. Also in verse 18.
  15. Ezekiel 29:3 great monster There were ancient stories about a sea monster that fought against God. The prophets called Egypt that sea monster many times. But here, this might mean the crocodiles that rest on the banks of the Nile River.
  16. Ezekiel 29:12 I will … strangers Or “I will scatter them ….”
  17. Ezekiel 29:17 twenty-seventh year of exile This was in the spring of 571 B.C.

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