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Ezekiel 26

YHWH confronts Tyre’s delight in Jerusalem’s ruin with a judgment that brings its wealth and maritime strength to nothing.

Tyre celebrates Jerusalem’s ruin, expecting to gain from the loss of a rival gateway for trade. Through Ezekiel, YHWH announces judgment against this seafaring city. Nations will come against it like waves, and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is named as an attacker. The prophecy moves from siege and plunder to the trembling of coastal rulers, who lament Tyre’s fall. It ends with the city descending into the pit, stripped of its place among the living.

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1In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha! She is broken! She who was the gateway of the peoples has been returned to me. I will be replenished, now that she is laid waste;’
3therefore the Lord GOD says, ‘Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.
4They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock.
5She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have spoken it,’ says the Lord GOD. ‘She will become plunder for the nations.
6Her daughters who are in the field will be slain with the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’
7“For the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, with chariots, with horsemen, and an army with many people.
8He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will make forts against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you.
9He will set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.
10By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates, as men enter into a city which is broken open.
11He will tread down all your streets with the hoofs of his horses. He will kill your people with the sword. The pillars of your strength will go down to the ground.
12They will make a plunder of your riches and make a prey of your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. They will lay your stones, your timber, and your dust in the middle of the waters.
13I will cause the noise of your songs to cease. The sound of your harps won’t be heard any more.
14I will make you a bare rock. You will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more; for I the LORD have spoken it,’ says the Lord GOD.
15“The Lord GOD says to Tyre: ‘Won’t the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made within you?
16Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground, and will tremble every moment, and be astonished at you.
17They will take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, “How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!”
18Now the islands will tremble in the day of your fall. Yes, the islands that are in the sea will be dismayed at your departure.’
19“For the Lord GOD says: ‘When I make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep on you, and the great waters cover you,
20then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living.
21I will make you a terror, and you will no more have any being. Though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again,’ says the Lord GOD.”
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Key verses
Ezekiel 26:2Tyre’s pleasure at Jerusalem’s destruction establishes the charge: the city sees another people’s devastation as its own chance for gain.
Ezekiel 26:13The silencing of songs and harps extends the judgment beyond ruined defenses to the end of the city’s celebration.
Ezekiel 26:7Naming Nebuchadnezzar makes the threatened siege concrete and presents Babylon’s king as an instrument under YHWH’s command.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah also speaks judgment against Tyre, sharing Ezekiel’s focus on the downfall of a city known for maritime trade. Revelation shares the imagery of rulers lamenting a great trading city’s destruction and the silencing of music within its walls.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What does Tyre’s response to Jerusalem’s ruin reveal about how the desire for gain can shape judgment?

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Which image of Tyre’s fall most challenges your sense of what makes a society secure?

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Questions people ask about Ezekiel 26

Why does God judge Tyre in Ezekiel 26?

Verse 2 identifies Tyre’s offense: it celebrates Jerusalem’s destruction and expects to profit from it. Jerusalem’s collapse appears to Tyre as an opening for greater prosperity. YHWH answers this boast by declaring himself against Tyre and announcing the loss of its defenses, wealth, and standing among the nations.

Who attacks Tyre in Ezekiel 26?

The prophecy first announces that many nations will attack Tyre like successive waves. It then names Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and describes his army’s siege works and assault. The chapter moves between a named king and plural attackers without providing a complete timetable or naming every nation involved.

What does the pit mean in Ezekiel 26?

The pit belongs to the chapter’s imagery of death and descent. Tyre is pictured going down among people of ancient times into desolate regions beneath the earth. Alongside the covering waters, this language portrays the city’s removal from inhabited life; it does not provide a detailed map of the afterlife.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).