The Burden against Tyre

(Ezekiel 26:1–21)

[This is] the burden against Tyre:

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,[fn]

for [Tyre] is laid waste,

without house [or] harbor.

Word has reached them

from the land of Cyprus.[fn]

2 

Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland,

you merchants of Sidon,

whose traders have crossed the sea.[fn]

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[fn] 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[fn]—

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. 24