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1The word of the Lord came to me:
2“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:[#tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).]
“‘Your heart is proud and you said, “I am a god;
I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –
yet you are a man and not a god,
though you think you are godlike.
3Look, you are wiser than Daniel;[#sn Or perhaps “Danel” (so TEV), referring to a ruler known from Canaanite legend. See the note on “Daniel” in 14:14. A reference to Danel (preserved in legend at Ugarit, near the northern end of the Phoenician coast) makes more sense here when addressing Tyre than in 14:14.]
no secret is hidden from you.
4By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself;
you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.
5By your great skill in trade you have increased your wealth,[#tn Or “wisdom.”]
and your heart is proud because of your wealth.
6“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:
Because you think you are godlike,
7I am about to bring foreigners against you, the most terrifying of nations.[#sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.]
They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom,
and they will defile your splendor.
8They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die violently in the heart of the seas.[#tn Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”]
9Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you –
though you are a man and not a god –
when you are in the power of those who wound you?
10You will die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners;[#sn The Phoenicians practiced circumcision, so the language here must be figurative, indicating that they would be treated in a disgraceful manner. Uncircumcised peoples were viewed as inferior, unclean, and perhaps even sub-human. See 31:18 and 32:17-32, as well as the discussion in D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:99.]
for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord .’”
11The word of the Lord came to me:
12“Son of man, sing a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:[#tn Heb “lift up.”]
“‘You were the sealer of perfection,
full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13You were in Eden, the garden of God.[#sn The imagery of the lament appears to draw upon an extrabiblical Eden tradition about the expulsion of the first man (see v. 14 and the note there) from the garden due to his pride. The biblical Eden tradition speaks of cherubs placed as guardians at the garden entrance following the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:24), but no guardian cherub like the one described in verse 14 is depicted or mentioned in the biblical account. Ezekiel’s imagery also appears to reflect Mesopotamian and Canaanite mythology at certain points. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:119-20.]
Every precious stone was your covering,
the ruby, topaz, and emerald,
the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,
the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl;
your settings and mounts were made of gold.
On the day you were created they were prepared.
14I placed you there with an anointed guardian cherub;[#tn Or “winged”; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.; #tn The meaning of this phrase in Hebrew is uncertain. The word translated here “guards” occurs in Exod 25:20 in reference to the cherubim “covering” the ark.; #tn Heb “you (were) an anointed cherub that covers and I placed you.” In the Hebrew text the ruler of Tyre is equated with a cherub, and the verb “I placed you” is taken with what follows (“on the holy mountain of God”). However, this reading is problematic. The pronoun “you” at the beginning of verse 14 is feminine singular in the Hebrew text; elsewhere in this passage the ruler of Tyre is addressed with masculine singular forms. It is possible that the pronoun is a rare (see Deut 5:24; Num 11:15) or defectively written (see 1 Sam 24:19; Neh 9:6; Job 1:10; Ps 6:3; Eccl 7:22) masculine form, but it is more likely that the form should be repointed as the preposition “with” (see the LXX). In this case the ruler of Tyre is compared to the first man, not to a cherub. If this emendation is accepted, then the verb “I placed you” belongs with what precedes and concludes the first sentence in the verse. It is noteworthy that the verbs in the second and third lines of the verse also appear at the end of the sentence in the Hebrew text. The presence of a conjunction at the beginning of “I placed you” is problematic for the proposal, but it may reflect a later misunderstanding of the syntax of the verse. For a defense of the proposed emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.]
you were on the holy mountain of God;
you walked about amidst fiery stones.
15You were blameless in your behavior from the day you were created,[#tn Heb “ways.”]
until sin was discovered in you.
16In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned;[#tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”]
so I defiled you and banished you from the mountain of God –
the guardian cherub expelled you from the midst of the stones of fire.
17Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor.
I threw you down to the ground;
I placed you before kings, that they might see you.
18By the multitude of your iniquities, through the sinfulness of your trade,
you desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I drew fire out from within you;
it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
before the eyes of all who saw you.
19All who know you among the peoples are shocked at you;
you have become terrified and will be no more.’”
20The word of the Lord came to me:
21“Son of man, turn toward Sidon and prophesy against it.[#tn Heb “set your face against.”; #sn Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre.map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.]
22Say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against you, Sidon,
and I will magnify myself in your midst.
Then they will know that I am the Lord
when I execute judgments on her
and reveal my sovereign power in her.
23I will send a plague into the city and bloodshed into its streets;[#tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.]
the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it from every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord .
24“‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord .[#sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.; #tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”]
25“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob.[#tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.]
26They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”[#sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.]