(Ezekiel 26:1–21)
1
This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish,(a) for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.(b)
2
Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.(c)
3
On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations.
4
Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.”
5
When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.
6
Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
7
Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?
8
Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
9
The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.
10
Cultivate (d) your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.
11
The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.
12
He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus— even there you will find no rest.”
13
Look at the land of the Chaldeans (e)— a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin.
14
Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!
15
At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
16
“Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.”
17
And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
18
Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.
Footnotes