Daily Bread

A Prophecy Against Tyre

26 In the eleventh month of the twelfth^[a] year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me:^{(A) 2} “Son of man, because Tyre^(B) has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha!^(C) The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’ ³ therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea^(D) casting up its waves. ⁴ They will destroy^(E) the walls of Tyre^(F) and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. ⁵ Out in the sea^(G) she will become a place to spread fishnets,^(H) for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. She will become plunder^(I) for the nations,^{(J) 6} and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

⁷ “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar^[b](K) king of Babylon, king of kings,^(L) with horses and chariots,^(M) with horsemen and a great army. ⁸ He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works^(N) against you, build a ramp^(O) up to your walls and raise his shields against you. ⁹ He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons.^{(P) 10} His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots^(Q) when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through. ¹¹ The hooves^(R) of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars^(S) will fall to the ground.^{(T) 12} They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea.^{(U) 13} I will put an end^(V) to your noisy songs,^(W) and the music of your harps^(X) will be heard no more.^{(Y) 14} I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt,^(Z) for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁵ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Will not the coastlands^(AA) tremble^(AB) at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan^(AC) and the slaughter takes place in you? ¹⁶ Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered^(AD) garments. Clothed^(AE) with terror, they will sit on the ground,^(AF) trembling^(AG) every moment, appalled^(AH) at you. ¹⁷ Then they will take up a lament^(AI) concerning you and say to you:

¹⁹ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I make you a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths^(AM) over you and its vast waters cover you,^{(AN) 20} then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit,^(AO) to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place^[c] in the land of the living.^{(AP) 21} I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more.^(AQ) You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign Lord.”^(AR)