1Tyrus for insulting over the distress of Jerusalem is threatened with destruction, 7of which Nebuchadrezzar shall be made the instrument. 15The consternation and mourning of the isles and princes of the sea for her fall.
1AND it came to pass in the 1eleventh year, in the first day of the 2month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
1 After the carrying away captive of king Jeconiah. See Ezek. 24 on verse 1.
2 What month this was, is uncertain. From the following verse we may conceive it to have been the first month after the capture of Jerusalem, which happened on the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of king Zedekiah, Jer. 52:6.
2Son of man, because that 3Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, 4Aha, she is broken that was the 5gates of the people: 6she is turned unto me: I shall be 7replenished, now 8she is laid waste:
3 That is, the inhabitants of the city of Tyrus. Hebr. Tsor. See Joshua 19 on verse 29; 1 Kings 5 on verse 1, and further Psalm 83:7; 87:4; Isa. 23:1, etc.; Jer. 47:4; Joel 3:4, etc.; Amos 1:9, 10; Zech. 9:2, 3; Mat. 11:21, 22.
4 As Ezek. 25:3.
5 Hebr. doors, that is, through which the nations from all parts did enter to exercise their commerce. Compare Isa. 23:3; Ezek. 27:3.
6 That is, her trade will now come to me.
7 With commerce and riches.
8 As if she said: She is quite undone; or, now, because she is laid waste.
3Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I 9am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, 10as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
9 As Ezek. 13:8.
10 Compare verse 19. Other, as the sea lifteth himself up with his waves; the Tyrians were wont to do this, as situated in the sea.
4And 11they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her 12dust from her, and make her like the 13top of a rock.
11 Gentiles, or nations. See verse 7.
12 As when a man wipes away the dust from a rock, in order that the bare rock may be seen, which before was covered all over with dust. Thus it pleased God to represent most lively in rhetorical terms the destruction of the city of Tyrus.
13 Hebr. make her the smoothness of a rock. Compare Ezek. 24:7. This refers to the physical position of the city, which was built upon a rock, and had from this the name Tsor, that is, a rock. God intimates that He will cause the building to be destroyed and consumed as dust, so that nothing more of it shall be seen than the smooth, bare, empty rock upon which that proud and stately city was built. Also verse 14.
5It shall be a place for the spreading of 14nets in the 15midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.
14 Or, drag-sails. It shall be like a bare island, where fishermen shall spread their nets abroad to dry them.
15 For Tyrus was situated round about in the sea, separate from the continent. See verse 17; 1 Kings 5 on verse 1; Ezek. 27:34; 28:2.
6And her 16daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
16 That is, the cities and villages that belonged to her, that is, the inhabitants thereof. See 2 Kings 19 on verse 21. Also verse 8.
7¶For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a 17king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
17 That monarch, the greatest and mightiest of the kings of the earth. Compare Gen. 9 on verse 25; Cant. 1 on verse 1. See Dan. 2:37.
8He shall slay with the sword thy 18daughters in the field: and he shall make a 19fort against thee, and casta a 20mount against thee, and lift up the 21buckler against thee.
18 As verse 6.
19 As Ezek. 4:2. See of the Hebrew word 2 Kings 25 on verse 1.
a build a raised fortification
20 See 2 Sam. 20 on verse 15.
21 That is, fight against thee, or cause soldiers with bucklers, or buckler-men to fall on upon and assault thee; for bucklers or shields in fighting are lifted up, or heaved up, to cover oneself therewith against the enemy.
9And he shall set 22enginesb of war against thy walls, and with his 23axes he shall break down thy towers.
22 Or, wall-breakers. Hebr. such a warlike engine, that destroyeth all that is before or against it.
b battering rams
23 Or, swords, cleavers, of king Nebuchadnezzar.
10By reason of the abundance 24of 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, 25as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.
24 Of Nebuchadnezzar.
25 Or, as men are wont to march into a city broken through or split rent asunder, that is, those gates shall be so spoiled and open by the violence of the besiegers, that they shall be able to march wide enough and in troops, as it were through great breaches; or as men in a storming manner fall in through the breaches that are made, so shall he march in unto thee and destroy all. See verse 15. The breaches shall be to him instead of gates.
11With the 26hoofsc of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and 27thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
26 Hebr. claws.
c Isa. 5:28; Jer. 47:3.
27 Hebr. the columns or pillars of thy strength (whereby it seems that strong towers or other strongholds are meant which they had set up for defense) shall go down, go to the ground, that is, every one of them. Some understand it of the stately statues, triumphal column, etc., reared up for a show of their greatness.
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 28pleasant houses: and they shall 29lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.
28 Hebr. houses of thy desire; that is, costly, desirable, pleasant.
29 Or, cast. Hebr. lay, set.
13And I will cause the noised of thy 30songs to cease; and the sound of thy 31harps shall be no more heard.
d Isa. 24:7, 8; Jer. 7:34; 16:9.
30 That is, all thy mirth shall be ended. See Isa. 24:8; Jer. 7:34; 16:9.
31 Other, cithers.
14And I will make thee like the 32top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built 33no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
32 See verses 4 and 5.
33 That is, not as in times past; thou shalt return no more to thy former worldly prosperity, state and glory, and in time utterly perish. Compare verse 21; Isa. 23:15, 17; Ezek. 27:36. Likewise Ezra 3:7; Neh. 13:16; Mat. 15:21; Mark 7:24; Acts 12:20; 21:3, 7. It is conceived that this city rose a little again under the reign of king Cyrus, and in the time of Alexander the Great it is commonly known that it was of some strength and power, when he besieged it seven months, and at last took it; but at this day many testify that there are hardly any remains to be seen of the repaired city of Palae-Tyrus; nevertheless it has had spiritual promises for the elect under the Messiah, Psalm 87:4; Isa. 23:18. God (unto Whom all things are known from eternity) joins here (as elsewhere often) the beginning and the end together.
15¶Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; 34Shall not the 35isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the 36wounded 37cry, when the 38slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
34 As if the Lord would say: surely they will.
35 That is, the inhabitants beyond the sea who have traded with thee, and have been enriched by thee. Compare Ezek. 27:35. See Psalm 72 on verse 10.
36 Compare Ezek. 30:24.
37 Or, howl, sigh.
38 Hebr. killing or with killing kill, that is, commit murder, murder all.
16Then all the princes of the 39sea shall 40come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off 41their 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.
39 Who dwell by the seaside, have traded with thee and have relied upon thee. Compare Ezek. 27:35.
40 Unto a sign of astonishment and sorrow; likewise for fear of their own estate by your example.
41 Or, stitched garments. Hebr. their needle works or embroideries.
17And they shall take up a lamentatione for thee, and say to thee, 42How art thou destroyed, that wast 43inhabited 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 44haunt it!
e Rev. 18:9, etc.
42 A question which proceeded from pity and amazement.
43 Wherein (namely, in the seas) thou layest round about. Compare Ezek. 27:3, 4. Other, thou that wast inhabited of the seas, that is, of seafaring men, traders who came from beyond the sea to dwell in thee, that is, to live and reside in thee a long while because of their trade, compare Acts 2:5; James 4:13, and here at the end of this verse: haunt, that is, lived a long time, after the manner of merchants factors, etc.
44 Or, all that dwelt in her, that is, which by their extraordinary power, pomp and magnificence caused terror to be on all those who came from other places to live among them. Compare Isa. 23:8; Ezek. 32:23, etc.
18Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy 45departure.
45 That is, because thy people shall be constrained to go forth into captivity; or, going out, that is, end, pitiful exit, as we also use the same word in our own language.
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 46deep upon thee, and 47great waters shall cover thee;
46 Understand the Babylonian army. See verse 3.
47 Or, many.
20When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the 48pit, with the 49people of old time, and shall set thee in the 50low parts of the earth, in 51places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set 52glory in the 53land of the living;
48 That is, into the grave, as often; that thou shalt be as those who are dead, buried and forgotten.
49 Hebr. people of eternity, that is, antiquity. Understand those who of old time in former days, from the beginning of the world, are gone down thither. See of this word olam Jer. 2 on verse 20. Also in the sequel.
50 Hebr. the earth of lownesses. Also Ezek. 32:18, etc.
51 The same thing is said in other words.
52 That is, My land Canaan, Jerusalem and My people Judah (at whose misery and destruction thou saidest: Aha, verse 2) those will I deliver and restore to such a state that they shall be the beauty and glory of all the earth, as an example of what I will do to My entire church by the Messiah on earth, and in the heavenly Canaan. See Psalm 48:2; Ezek. 20:6; 37:11, etc.; Eph. 5:27; Rev. 21:2.
53 That is, upon the earth, among men who are alive. See Psalm 27 on verse 13.
21I will make thee a 54terror, and thou shalt be 55no more: though thou be 56sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.
54 Hebr. terrors, troubles, astonishments, that is, I will deal with thee as such that everyone shall be frightened when he hears of it or thinks of it.
55 See on verse 14.
56 Compare Psalm 37:35, 36, etc.