A prophecy about the people of Tyre

1Almost twelve yearsafter we had been taken to Babylonia, on the first day of the month, Yahweh gave me another message. He said to me,

2“You human, the people of Tyre city shouted joyfully and said about Jerusalem, ‘Jerusalem, the city from which many traders/merchants went to many nations, is now destroyed. And now people from all over the world will come to us to buy and sell things. Because Jerusalem has now been ruined, we will prosper!’

3Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: ‘I am now the enemy of you people of Tyre. I will causethe armies of many nations to come and attack your city, like the waves of the sea beat against the shores.

4Their soldiers will destroy the walls around Tyre and tear down its towers. Tyre will become a place where people from many nations steal valuable things, and then the city will be completely destroyed. Then they will scrape away the rubble and cause the city to become a bare rock.

5Out in the sea, Tyre will become an island where men spread their fishing nets to dry them. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh the Lord, have predicted it.

6The people in small villages on the coast near Tyre will be killed bytheir enemies’ swords. Then people will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.’

7This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, sayis going to happen: ‘From the north, I am going to bring the most powerful king in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, with his army to attack Tyre. They will bring horses and chariots, and men who ride the horses and men who drive the chariots; it will be a huge army.

8In the battles in the small villages on the coast, their soldiers will kill many people with their swords. Then they will set up devices to batter the wall around the city of Tyre, and they will build a dirt ramp up to the top of the wall, and they will all hold up shields to protect themselves from arrows being shot from the ground.

9The king will direct the soldiers who operate the ◄rams/things► to batter the walls, and who will use their iron bars to tear down the towers in the wall.

10The king will have a huge number of horses, andthe stamping of their hooves will result in the city being covered with dust. It will be as though the walls will tremble because of the noise made by the horses, the supply wagons, and the chariots when they enter the city where the walls have been broken down.

11The horses will trample all of the streetsof the city with their hooves. The soldiers will kill the people with their swords; and they will cause your strong pillars to ◄collapse/fall to the ground►.

12They will take away all the people’s valuable possessions and steal the things that the merchants sell. They will tear down the walls of the houses and destroy their fine houses. Then they will throw into the sea the stones from the walls of those houses and the timber and the rubble.

13No longer will you sing noisy songs, and people will not play their harps any more.

14The enemy soldiers will cause the city to become a bare rock and only a place where men spread their fishing nets. And the city will never be rebuilt. Those things will surely happen because I, Yahweh the Lord, have declaredthat they will happen.’

15This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say about the people of Tyre: ‘When the wounded people in Tyre groan and many people are slaughtered and the city is destroyed, it will surely be as though [RHQ] the areas along the coast will tremble.

16Then all the kings in the cities along the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and their embroidered clothes. They will be terrified, and they will sit on the ground, trembling. They will be appalled because of what has happened to the city of Tyre.

17Then they will sing a sad song about the city, and they will sing this: “The famous city [APO], in which many menwho sailed on the seas lived, is now destroyed! The people of that city had great power because they had many ships that sailed on the seas; they caused all the people who lived near them to be terrified.

18Now on the day when that city is destroyed, it is as though the people in the areas along the coast tremble and the the people on the islands in the sea are terrified because of that city being ruined.”’

19This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: ‘When I cause the city of Tyre to become desolate/empty, like other cities in which people no longer live, and when I cause the huge waves of the sea to cover it,

20then I will bring the people of that city down to be with those who have gone down to where the dead people are, people who lived long ago. I will cause them to remain in the place below the earth that is like old/ancient ruins, with those who have gone down to that pit previously, and they will never return to the earth, to where people are alive.

21I will cause them to die in a horrible way (OR, people will be very afraid because of what happens to that city), and that will be the end of ◄them/their lives►. People will search for that city but it will no longer exist. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare will happen.’ ”