Major Prophets · Chapter 26 of 48

Ezekiel 26

God pronounces judgment on Tyre, the proud maritime city that rejoiced over Jerusalem's fall, hoping to profit from her ruin. Because Tyre said Aha, God will bring many nations against her like waves of the sea. Nebuchadnezzar will besiege her; her walls, towers, and riches will be destroyed, her rubble scraped into the sea until she becomes a bare rock for spreading nets. The coastal princes will tremble at her fall.

What happens in Ezekiel 26

In the eleventh year the word comes against Tyre, the wealthy Phoenician port that gloated over Jerusalem, expecting to inherit her trade now that the inland city was broken. God declares himself against Tyre and will bring many nations against her like the sea heaving up its waves. They will destroy her walls and towers, scrape away her very dust, and leave her a bare rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets.

God names Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, king of kings, who will besiege the mainland city with horses, siege works, and battering rams, slaughter her people, and plunder her wealth, casting her stones and timber into the water. The isles and coastal princes will shake at the sound of her fall, descend from their thrones, and take up a lament, astonished that so renowned a city has vanished forever.

Ezekiel 26 in context

Tyre was the dominant Phoenician trading power, an island fortress with a mainland settlement, famed for commerce and seemingly invincible. Ezekiel dates this oracle around 587 to 586 BC, near Jerusalem's fall. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for thirteen years; the mainland fell, though the island resisted long, and Alexander the Great later destroyed it utterly, scraping its ruins into the sea.

The oracle spans chapters 26 to 28, exposing the pride of a city that trusted its wealth and position.

Main themes of Ezekiel 26

Ezekiel 26 (KJV)

1And 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, 2Son 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: 3Therefore 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. 4And 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. 5It 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. 6And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD. 7For 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. 8He 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. 9And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. 10By 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. 11With 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. 12And 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. 13And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. 14And 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. 15Thus 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? 16Then 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. 17And 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! 18Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure. 19For 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; 20When 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; 21I 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.

Verses to carry from Ezekiel 26

“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:”Ezekiel 26:2

“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.”Ezekiel 26:4

“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.”Ezekiel 26:14

Reflection

Tyre believed her wealth and position made her safe, and even profited from others' pain. Ask where you quietly trust money, status, or security more than God. All such fortresses are scraped bare in the end. Build instead on Christ, the Rock, whose kingdom no wave of change or loss can ever wash away.

A prayer from Ezekiel 26