23
The Burden against Tyre
(Ezekiel 26:1–21)
1 This is the burden against Tyre:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste,
without house or harbor.
Word has reached them
from the land of Cyprus.
2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose traders have crossed the sea.
3 On the great waters
came the grain of Shihor;
the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre;
she was the merchant of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
“I have not been in labor
or given birth.
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt,
they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
7 Is this your jubilant city,
whose origin is from antiquity,
whose feet have taken her
to settle far away?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
9 The LORD of Hosts planned it,
to defile all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.
10 Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer a harbor.
11 The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea;
He has made kingdoms tremble.
He has given a command
that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.
12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more,
O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus—
even there you will find no rest.”
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans —
a people now of no account.
The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures;
they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces.
They brought it to ruin.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your harbor has been destroyed!
15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
16 “Take up your harp,
stroll through the city,
O forgotten harlot.
Make sweet melody,
sing many a song,
so you will be remembered.”
17 And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
18 Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.