27 A Lament for Tyre

27:1 The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Now you, son of man, raise a lamentation over Tyre, ³and say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, thus says the Lord God:

“O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’ ⁴Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty. ⁵They made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. ⁶Of oaks of Bashan they made your oars; they made your deck of pines from the coasts of Cyprus, inlaid with ivory. ⁷Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt was your sail, serving as your banner; blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah was your awning. ⁸The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you; they were your pilots. ⁹The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you, caulking your seams; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to barter for your wares. ¹⁰“Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you; they gave you splendor. ¹¹Men of Arvad and Helech were on your walls all around, and men of Gamad were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around; they made perfect your beauty.

¹²“Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares. ¹³Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. ¹⁴From Beth-togarmah they exchanged horses, war horses, and mules for your wares. ¹⁵The men of Dedan[1] traded with you. Many coastlands were your own special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony. ¹⁶Syria did business with you because of your abundant goods; they exchanged for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and ruby. ¹⁷Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, meal,[2] honey, oil, and balm. ¹⁸Damascus did business with you for your abundant goods, because of your great wealth of every kind; wine of Helbon and wool of Sahar ¹⁹and casks of wine[3] from Uzal they exchanged for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were bartered for your merchandise. ²⁰Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. ²¹Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you. ²²The traders of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices and all precious stones and gold. ²³Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you. ²⁴In your market these traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored material, bound with cords and made secure. ²⁵The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas.

²⁶“Your rowers have brought you out into the high seas. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas. ²⁷Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners and your pilots, your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your crew that is in your midst, sink into the heart of the season the day of your fall. ²⁸At the sound of the cry of your pilots the countryside shakes, ²⁹and down from their ships come all who handle the oar. The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the land ³⁰and shout aloud over you and cry out bitterly. They cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes; ³¹they make themselves bald for you and put sackcloth on their waist, and they weep over you in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning. ³²In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you and lament over you: ‘Who is like Tyre, like one destroyed in the midst of the sea? ³³When your wares came from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with your abundant wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth. ³⁴Now you are wrecked by the seas, in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your crew in your midst have sunk with you. ³⁵All the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled at you, and the hair of their kings bristles with horror; their faces are convulsed. ³⁶The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.’”

[1] Hebrew; Septuagint Rhodes [2] The meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown [3] Probable reading; Hebrew Vedan and Javan

28 Prophecy Against the Prince of Tyre

28:1 The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:

“Because your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,’ yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god— ³you are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you; ⁴by your wisdom and your understanding you have made wealth for yourself, and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; ⁵by your great wisdom in your trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart has become proud in your wealth— ⁶therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you make your heart like the heart of a god, ⁷therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. ⁸They shall thrust you down into the pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas. ⁹Will you still say, ‘I am a god, ’in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a man, and no god, in the hands of those who slay you? ¹⁰You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners; for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.”

A Lament over the King of Tyre

¹¹Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: ¹²“Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:

“You were the signet of perfection,[4]full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire,[5] emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings.^[6]On the day that you were created they were prepared. ¹⁴You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you;[7] you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. ¹⁵You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. ¹⁶In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you,[8] O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁷Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. ¹⁸By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. ¹⁹All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

Prophecy Against Sidon

²⁰The word of the Lord came to me: ²¹“Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against her ²²and say, Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I am against you, O Sidon, and I will manifest my glory in your midst. And they shall know that I am the Lord when I execute judgments in her and manifest my holiness in her; ²³for I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the slain shall fall in her midst, by the sword that is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord. ²⁴“And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.

Israel Gathered in Security

²⁵“Thus says the Lord God: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. ²⁶And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”

[4] The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain [5] Or lapis lazuli [6] The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain [7] The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain [8] Or banished you