BOOK 26 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Ezekiel 26

Ezekiel book home•Chapter 26 of 48•21 verses

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Ezekiel 26 Overview

Because Tyre celebrates Jerusalem’s fall as an opening for commercial gain, Ezekiel announces that many nations will come against the wealthy coastal city. Nebuchadrezzar is named as a major conqueror, Tyre’s walls and settlements will be devastated, and the nations will lament her downfall.

EzekielBook

26Chapter

21Verses

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Before you read Ezekiel 26

Coming from

The LORD announces judgment on Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia because they rejoiced over Judah’s ruin, treated Israel’s God and land with contempt, or took vengeance. The surrounding nations will learn that the LORD judges not only Jerusalem but also those who exploit her downfall.

In this chapter

Leads into

Ezekiel sings a lament over Tyre as a magnificent merchant ship assembled from the best materials and filled with goods from many nations. The long trading network displays Tyre’s wealth and beauty, but the ship is wrecked in the heart of the seas and merchants, sailors, and kings mourn the loss.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Tyre was a major Phoenician commercial center with mainland and island components. Ezekiel’s oracle uses both military and maritime language appropriate to a city whose wealth and security were tied to sea trade.

The prophecy names Nebuchadrezzar and also speaks more broadly of “many nations.” Historical discussions about the precise phases of Tyre’s conquest should not obscure the text’s clear message: proud commercial confidence will not make the city untouchable.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Economic opportunity can expose a heart that rejoices in another’s ruin

Tyre sees Jerusalem’s destruction as a chance for increased trade rather than as a human tragedy.

Commercial power cannot guarantee permanent security

A city celebrated for trade and fortification can still be brought down.

God rules over international history

The LORD names foreign armies and the fall of cities before the events have fully unfolded.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Isaiah 23

Isaiah also prophesies against Tyre as a proud commercial power whose merchants are renowned.

Amos 1:9-10

Amos condemns Tyre for covenant-breaking hostility and announces fire on its wall.

Revelation 18

Babylon’s commercial lament in Revelation uses imagery that recalls Old Testament laments over wealthy trading cities such as Tyre.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not oversimplify the historical fulfillment by pretending every phase of Tyre’s fall occurred in one siege.

The chapter itself mentions many nations as well as Nebuchadrezzar, allowing a broader historical process.

Do not equate wealth or international commerce itself with wickedness.

The condemnation centers on pride, exploitation, rejoicing over Jerusalem, and false security in economic strength.

Read Ezekiel 26 watching for…

Tyre’s reaction to Jerusalem’s fall

the phrase “many nations”

Nebuchadrezzar named as conqueror

the destruction of walls and settlements

the lament of maritime rulers

Chapter outline2 sections

1-14Tyre is condemned for rejoicing over Jerusalem and is promised destruction by Nebuchadrezzar 15-21Coastlands and princes lament Tyre as the city sinks into ruin and disappears

And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.

And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.

It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.

And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.

He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.

And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.

With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.

And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.

And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.

And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?

Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.

And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!

Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;

When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;

I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.

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Ezekiel 26:6

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