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Ezekiel 28

God brings Tyre’s self-exalting ruler down to death and promises scattered Israel safety under his rule.

God sends Ezekiel to confront the ruler of Tyre, whose wealth and wisdom have fed his claim to be divine. A sentence of death is followed by a lament over the king, using images of Eden and a cherub cast from God’s mountain. God then announces judgment against Sidon. The closing promise turns toward scattered Israel: God will gather his people into their land and remove the surrounding hostility so they can dwell in safety.

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2“Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas;’ yet you are man, and no god, though you set your heart as the heart of a god—
3behold, you are wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that is hidden from you.
4By your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasuries.
5By your great wisdom and by your trading you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches—”
6“‘therefore the Lord GOD says: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of God,
7therefore, behold, I will bring strangers on you, the terrible of the nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom. They will defile your brightness.
8They will bring you down to the pit. You will die the death of those who are slain in the heart of the seas.
9Will you yet say before him who kills you, ‘I am God’? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.
10You will die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers; for I have spoken it,” says the Lord GOD.’”
12“Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and tell him, ‘The Lord GOD says: “You were the seal of full measure, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. They were prepared in the day that you were created.
14You were the anointed cherub who covers. Then I set you up on the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire.
15You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.
16By the abundance of your commerce, your insides were filled with violence, and you have sinned. Therefore I have cast you as profane out of God’s mountain. I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the middle of the stones of fire.
17Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I have cast you to the ground. I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.
18By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your commerce, you have profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought out a fire from the middle of you. It has devoured you. I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you.
19All those who know you among the peoples will be astonished at you. You have become a terror, and you will exist no more.”’”
21“Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it,
22and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Sidon. I will be glorified among you. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have executed judgments in her, and am sanctified in her.
23For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets. The wounded will fall within her, with the sword on her on every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
24“‘“There will no longer be a pricking brier to the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are around them that scorned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.”
25“‘The Lord GOD says: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am shown as holy among them in the sight of the nations, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob.
26They will dwell in it securely. Yes, they will build houses, plant vineyards, and will dwell securely when I have executed judgments on all those around them who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.”’”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Ezekiel 28:2The ruler’s claim to divinity exposes the pride behind Tyre’s splendor and establishes the charge that judgment will answer.
Ezekiel 28:25God’s promise to gather Israel turns the chapter toward restoration, displaying his holiness before the nations.
Ezekiel 28:13Eden’s riches heighten the lament, showing the king’s former splendor before the account of his corruption and expulsion.
Where this chapter reaches

The Eden setting and cherub imagery reach back to Genesis, where God’s garden is guarded after human disobedience. The promise of Israel gathered from scattered peoples and settled in its land shares Jeremiah’s language of restoration after judgment.

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After reading the whole chapter

Where do you see the link between wealth and self-exaltation that God exposes in Tyre?

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How does the closing promise of homes and vineyards shape your reading of the judgments?

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Questions people ask about Ezekiel 28

Is Ezekiel 28 about Satan?

The lament addresses the king of Tyre and uses Eden and cherub imagery to describe his splendor and fall. Some Christians understand this as also portraying Satan’s fall. Satan is not named here, and the extent of that connection is debated. The explicit charges concern the king’s pride, violence, and corrupt commerce.

What does Ezekiel 28 promise Israel?

Verses 24–26 promise that God will gather scattered Israel into the land given to Jacob. The people will build houses and plant vineyards in safety after God judges the neighbors who treated them with contempt. The passage gives no date for this gathering; its stated outcome is recognition of YHWH as their God.

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What the Bible says about fear →

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).