Ezekiel 26

1 In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha! She is broken! She who was the gateway of the peoples has been returned to me. I will be replenished, now that she is laid waste;’

3 therefore the Lord GOD says, ‘Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.

4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock.

5 She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have spoken it,’ says the Lord GOD. ‘She will become plunder for the nations.

6 Her daughters who are in the field will be slain with the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’

7 “For the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, with chariots, with horsemen, and an army with many people.

8 He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will make forts against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you.

9 He will set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.

10 By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates, as men enter into a city which is broken open.

11 He will tread down all your streets with the hoofs of his horses. He will kill your people with the sword. The pillars of your strength will go down to the ground.

12 They will make a plunder of your riches and make a prey of your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. They will lay your stones, your timber, and your dust in the middle of the waters.

13 I will cause the noise of your songs to cease. The sound of your harps won’t be heard any more.

14 I will make you a bare rock. You will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more; for I the LORD have spoken it,’ says the Lord GOD.

15 “The Lord GOD says to Tyre: ‘Won’t the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made within you?

16 Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground, and will tremble every moment, and be astonished at you.

17 They will take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, “How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!”

18 Now the islands will tremble in the day of your fall. Yes, the islands that are in the sea will be dismayed at your departure.’

19 “For the Lord GOD says: ‘When I make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep on you, and the great waters cover you,

20 then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living.

21 I will make you a terror, and you will no more have any being. Though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again,’ says the Lord GOD.”

Around Ezekiel 26

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Ezekiel as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

By a canal in Babylonia, among the first exiles, a priest looks up. “the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” The book opens with an overwhelming vision of God’s glory, and Ezekiel, a priest taken to Babylon with the first exiles, falls before it. In the first half he announces, in words and in acted signs, that Jerusalem will fall, and he sees the glory of God leave the temple.

After the city falls, the message turns to hope: a new heart and a new spirit. In a valley of dry bones God asks him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel answers, “Lord GOD, you know.” The bones are brought to life, and the book ends with a final vision of a new temple to which God’s glory returns.

Background

Ezekiel’s visions are dated between 593 and 571 before Christ. He lived among exiles by a canal in Babylonia, far from the temple he had served. The book’s imagery influenced later Jewish writing and the book of Revelation.

How Christians read it

Christians differ most over the temple vision of chapters 40 to 48. Some expect a literal temple in the future. Others read it as a picture of God living with his people, fulfilled in Christ, in the church and finally in the new creation described at the end of Revelation. The promise of a new heart in chapter 36 is widely linked with the work of the Holy Spirit.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes