Table of Contents
Ezekiel 26
Ezekiel 26
1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
3 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
5 It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.
6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
7 For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
8 He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.
9 And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
10 By reason of the abundance of 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, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.
11 With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
12 And 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 pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.
13 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
14 And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
15 Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
16 Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their 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.
17 And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited 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 haunt it!
18 Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
19 For 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 deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;
20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
21 I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God.
Notes
Cross Reference
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
<html><b>in the eleventh [year]</b> of Zedekiah.</html>
Verse 2
<html><b>Jerusalem</b> which was under siege. <b>Aha!</b> [Heb. הֶאָח,] an expression of a shout of joy. <b>The doors of the peoples have been broken</b> A city through which all the nations enter for commerce will now be broken, for the siege will not leave it until it is taken. <b>it has turned to me</b> From now on, the merchandise of the nations has turned on me. <b>I shall become full from the destroyed [city]</b> I shall become full from the destroyed city of Jerusalem.</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>and I shall remove</b> [Heb. וְסִחֵיתִי,] and I shall uproot, like (Prov. 15:25): “The Lord will uproot (יִסַח) the house of the haughty;” (Deut. 28:63); “and you will be uprooted (וְנִסַחְתֶם) from…” <b>a smooth rock</b> Since it was built on a rock in the midst of the sea, when it will be demolished and its earth will be uprooted into the sea, the rock will be left bare, and so did Jonathan render: a smooth, bare rock.</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>a place to spread out nets</b> On the rock the fishermen will spread out their fishing nets, to dry them.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>And her daughters that are in the field</b> the villages that are subservient to her, surrounding her.</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>and will station against you shields</b> [Heb. צִנָה,] and will station against you those armed with shields.</html>
Verse 9
<html><b>And…his catapult</b> [Heb. וּמְחִי קָבָלוֹ.] This is one of the devices of the siege, to throw huge rocks and to strike opposite it, e la hone de sa pereyre in Old French, and the striking of his stone-throwing machine. Others render קָבָלוֹ as desarbalete in Old French, of his war-machines. <b>with his instruments of destruction</b> [Heb. בְּחַרְבּוֹתָיו,] with tools of destruction that he will bring with him.</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>From the abundance of his horses</b> When there are many horses, they raise dust with their feet, which ascends and becomes like a cloud, darkening the earth. This is called שִּׁפְּעַת, an abundance. Similarly, (Job 22:11): “or an abundance of (וְשִּׁפְּעַת) water covers you,” de la foison in French, of abundance. <b>as men enter a breached city</b> as they enter a city that has been breached of its wall(Targum), that its wall has been breached.</html>
Verse 12
<html><b>your merchandise</b> [as translated], your merchandise.</html>
Verse 16
<html><b>and they will tremble for [fear of] destruction</b> [Heb. לִרְגָעִים,] for fear of destruction, lest it befall them like your destruction. לִרְגָעִים as is an expression of breaking, like (Isa. 51:15): “Who splits (ַרוֹגַע) the sea;” (Job 7:5), “my skin split (רָגַע);” (Ps. 35:20), “and against the crushed people of (רִגְעֵי) the earth,” [synonymous with] דִכְּאֵי “the crushed people of the earth.” Menachem, however, explained it (p. 162) in the sense of רֶגַע, a moment, as in (Ps. 30:6): “For His wrath lasts but a moment (רֶגַע).” <b>and will be appalled</b> [Heb. וְשָּׁמְמוּ,] an expression of bewilderment.</html>
Verse 17
<html><b>established from the seas</b> [Heb. מִיָמִּים.] Some vocalize it without a “dagesh” (מִיָמִים) and interpret it to mean “settled from days of yore,” and others punctuate it with a “dagesh” (מִיַמִּים) and interpret it to mean “settled with strength through the seas surrounding her,” and so it is. <b>who cast terror</b> around to all the inhabitants. Heb. חִתִּיתָם, lur defre[n]emant in Old French, their terror.</html>
Verse 18
<html><b>the isles</b> [Heb. הָאִיִן,] like הָאִייִם. <b>by your departure</b> by your departure into exile.</html>
Verse 19
<html><b>when [I] bring up the deep upon you</b> “When I bring upon you companies of nations as numerous as the waters of the deep, and many nations will cover you.” Jonathan translated it in this manner, but according to its apparent meaning, first it was given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, and ultimately, the sea came up and inundated it.</html>
Verse 20
<html><b>with those who descend into the Pit</b> with those who descend into Gehinnom. <b>to a people of old</b> with the other nations who are there from long ago. <b>like the ruins of old</b> like the cities that were destroyed from times of yore, viz. Sodom and her sister cities. <b>but I shall bestow beauty upon the land of the living</b> And I shall bestow beauty upon Jerusalem.</html>
Verse 21
<html><b>a nonentity</b> [Heb. בַּלָהוֹת.] Jonathan explained בַּלָהוֹת [as] as if you did not exist, and the exegetes explain it as a word for a place where the satyrs and demons dance.</html>