Ezekiel 27:1-36--A Lament for Tyre

Ezekiel 27
English Standard Version

A Lament for Tyre
27 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Now you, son of man, raise a lamentation over Tyre, 3 and say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, thus says the Lord GOD:

“O Tyre, you have said,
    ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
    your builders made perfect your beauty.
5 They made all your planks
    of fir trees from Senir;
they took a cedar from Lebanon
    to make a mast for you.
6 Of oaks of Bashan
    they made your oars;
they made your deck of pines
    from the coasts of Cyprus,
    inlaid with ivory.
7 Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt
    was your sail,
    serving as your banner;
blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah
    was your awning.
8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad
    were your rowers;
your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you;
    they were your pilots.
9 The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you,
    caulking your seams;
all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you
    to barter for your wares.

10 “Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you; they gave you splendor. 11 Men of Arvad and Helech were on your walls all around, and men of Gamad were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around; they made perfect your beauty.

12 “Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. 14 From Beth-togarmah they exchanged horses, war horses, and mules for your wares. 15 The men of Dedan traded with you. Many coastlands were your own special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony. 16 Syria did business with you because of your abundant goods; they exchanged for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and ruby. 17 Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, meal, honey, oil, and balm. 18 Damascus did business with you for your abundant goods, because of your great wealth of every kind; wine of Helbon and wool of Sahar 19 and casks of wine from Uzal they exchanged for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were bartered for your merchandise. 20 Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. 21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you. 22 The traders of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices and all precious stones and gold. 23 Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you. 24 In your market these traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored material, bound with cords and made secure. 25 The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas.

26 “Your rowers have brought you out
    into the high seas.
The east wind has wrecked you
    in the heart of the seas.
27 Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,
    your mariners and your pilots,
your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,
    and all your men of war who are in you,
with all your crew
    that is in your midst,
sink into the heart of the seas
    on the day of your fall.
28 At the sound of the cry of your pilots
    the countryside shakes,
29 and down from their ships
    come all who handle the oar.
The mariners and all the pilots of the sea
    stand on the land
30 and shout aloud over you
    and cry out bitterly.
They cast dust on their heads
    and wallow in ashes;
31 they make themselves bald for you
    and put sackcloth on their waist,
and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,
    with bitter mourning.
32 In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you
    and lament over you:
‘Who is like Tyre,
    like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?
33 When your wares came from the seas,
    you satisfied many peoples;
with your abundant wealth and merchandise
    you enriched the kings of the earth.
34 Now you are wrecked by the seas,
    in the depths of the waters;
your merchandise and all your crew in your midst
    have sunk with you.
35 All the inhabitants of the coastlands
    are appalled at you,
and the hair of their kings bristles with horror;
    their faces are convulsed.
36 The merchants among the peoples hiss at you;
    you have come to a dreadful end
    and shall be no more forever.’”

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Though the LORD just condemned Tyre, He now commands Ezekiel to lament for them.  The ships of Tyre were beautiful indeed, as was the architecture of the city.  No cost was spared when getting the best materials, even when they needed to be imported from far away.  They hired the best oarsman, even those from far away and they produced excellent pilots for their ships (and everyone else's ships).  They secured the best craftsmen and tradesmen from all around.  Everyone wanted to do business with them.

Other nations swore they would give military aid to Tyre, but in the day of their need, non of these allies was to be found.  People from as far away as the Iberian peninsula came to do business with them.  When people did not have resources of other kinds valuable enough to trade for the wares that Tyre had to offer, they paid in men to become laborers (slaves) for the kingdom of Tyre.  Syria gave them all kinds of gemstones and purple cloth in exchange for their goods.  Israel and Judah traded vast amounts of food for their goods so that they did not have their own fields or herds.  They relied completely on their trade with other nations to supply their every need.  Others traded them livestock, spices, gold, or precious stones.  Others traded clothing and works of embroidery.  There didn't seem to be any nation of renown that didn't trade with Tyre.

All of their ships with their cargo and crew sank and were destroyed.  They are now in the heart of the sea, never to be seen or heard from again.  Their entire fleet and economy was destroyed in a single catastrophic event.  Other nations that had relied on the ships of Tyre to trade what they had for what they wanted were also devastated and they mourned the loss of these merchants (though sometimes it seemed that they may also have acted like pirates that terrorized other ships on the high seas so that everyone had to do business with them).  They no longer have any beauty left--they are now horrifying to look at and what happened to them strikes fear in the heart of the kings that they used to enrich.  They are now derided and cursed by the people that used to fear them and love them.  They were once great, beautiful and powerful, but all that had come to dreadful end.