1   These were the words of the Lord to me on the first day of the first ^note month in the eleventh year: 2   Man, Tyre has said of Jerusalem,

  Aha! she that was the gateway of the nations is broken,
  her gates swing open to me;
  I grow rich, she lies in ruins. ^note

3   Therefore these are the words of the Lord God:

  I am against you, Tyre,
and will bring up many nations against you
  as the sea brings up its waves;
4   they will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers.
  I will scrape the soil off her
and make her a gleaming rock,
5   she shall be an islet where men spread their nets;
    I have spoken, says the Lord God.
  She shall become the prey of nations,
6   and her daughters ^note shall be slain by the sword in the open country.

Prophecies against foreign nations

Thus they shall know that I am the Lord.

7   These are the words of the Lord God: I am bringing against Tyre from the north Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings. He will come with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great army.

     8   Your daughters in the open country
    he will put to the sword.
  He will set up watch-towers against you,
  pile up siege-ramps against you
  and raise against you a screen of shields.
9   He will launch his battering-rams on your walls
  and break down your towers with his axes.
10   He will cover you with dust from the thousands of his cavalry;
    at the thunder of his horses
    and of his chariot-wheels
your walls will quake when he enters your gates
  as men enter a city that is breached.
   11   He will trample all your streets
    with the hooves of his horses
  and put your people to the sword,
  and your strong pillars will fall to the ground.
     12   Your wealth will become spoil,
    your merchandise will be plundered,
    your walls levelled,
  your pleasant houses pulled down;
  your stones, your timber and your rubble
    will be dumped into the sea. ^note
   13   So I will silence the clamour of your songs,
and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more.
   14   I will make you a gleaming rock,
  a place for fishermen to spread their nets,
    and you ^note shall never be rebuilt.
  I, the Lord, have spoken.
    This is the very word of the Lord God.

15   These are the words of the Lord God to Tyre: How the coasts and islands will shake at the sound of your downfall, while the wounded groan, and the slaughter goes on ^note in your midst! 16   Then all the sea-kings will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their cloaks, and strip off their brocaded robes. They will wear coarse loin-cloths; they will sit on the ground, shuddering at every moment, horror-struck at your fate. 17   Then they will raise this dirge over you:

Prophecies against foreign nations

    How you are undone, swept ^note from the sea,
      O famous city!
    You whose strength lay in the sea,
      you and your inhabitants,
    who spread their terror throughout the mainland. ^note
   18   Now the coast-lands tremble on the day of your downfall,
  and the isles of the sea are appalled at your passing.

19   For these are the words of the Lord God: When I make you a desolate city, like a city where no man can live, when I bring up the primeval ocean against you and the great waters cover you, 20   I will thrust you down with those that descend to the abyss, to the dead of all the ages. I will make you dwell in the underworld as in places long desolate, with those that go down to the abyss. So you will never again be inhabited or take your place ^note in the land of the living. 21   I will bring you to a fearful end, and you shall be no more; men may look for you but will never find you again. This is the very word of the Lord God.

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