A funeral song for the city of Tyre
1The Lord talked to me and He said: 2‘Son of man, you must sing a sad song about the city of Tyre, a funeral song. 3Tyre is next to the sea with a harbour and they have merchants who buy and sell a lot of things to people of all lands. You must say to Tyre:
“The Lord God says:
Tyre, you always said
you were a beautiful city.
You said you were perfect.
4Your borders go very far into the sea
and the people who built you
made you very beautiful,
as beautiful as the best boats.
5They made your 2 sides from fir trees
from the land of Senir and they took
a cedar tree from Mount Lebanon
for your mast.
6They made your rowing-oars
from oak trees from Bashan
and your deck from fir trees
from the Island of Cyprus,
and they put pieces of ivory in the deck.
7Your sails were made from
colourful linen from Egypt.
They were like flags.
You covered yourself with blue
and purple wool material
from the Elisha Islands.
8People of the towns of Sidon
and Arvad rowed your boats.
And you, Tyre, had people
who knew the sea.
They were your seamen.
9Leaders from the town of Gebal
were the carpenters
who had to repair the boats.
They were good workers.
All the boats and their people came to you
to buy from you and to sell things to you.
10People from the lands of Persia,
Lydia, and Put were your soldiers.
They hung up their shields
and their helmets in you.
Everyone could see how important you were.
11Soldiers from Arvad and Helek
were standing on the walls around you.
On your towers were men from Gammad.
They hung their shields on your walls.
That made you so beautiful that you were perfect.
12Merchants from Tarshish
came to buy things from you.
They paid you with silver, iron, tin and lead.
13People from the lands of Greece, Turbal
and Meshek came to buy things from you.
They paid you with slaves
and things made of bronze.
14The merchants from the town
of Beth-Togarmah paid you with horses
and mules for the things that you had.
15People from Dedan and other lands
near the sea came to buy things from you.
They paid you with ivory and ebony wood.
16You made a lot of things
and people from Aram came to buy them
from you and they paid you with turquoise,
purple cloth, colourful material,
linen, coral and rubies.
17People from the land_of_Judah
and Israel were also your merchants.
They paid you with wheat from
the land of Minnith and with figs,
honey, olive oil and balm.
18You made a lot of things
and people from the city of Damascus
came to buy those things from you.
They paid you with wine from the town
of Helbon and wool from the town of Zahar.
19People from the town of Izal
and the land of Greece came
to buy things from you.
They paid you with wine from
the town of Izal and with iron,
and cassia and sugar cane.
20People from the town of Dedan
came to buy things from you.
They paid you with saddle cloths.
21People from the land of Arabia
and the kings of the land of Kedar
came to buy things from you.
They paid you with lambs,
sheep rams and goat-rams.
22Merchants from the lands of Sheba
and Raamah came to buy things from you.
They paid you with the best balm
and precious gemstones and gold.
23People from the towns of Haran,
Kanneh and Eden came to buy
things from you, and also people
from Sheba, Ashur and Kilmad.
24They paid you with beautiful clothes,
blue cloth and colourful material,
cloth with drawings sewn onto it,
colourful carpets and strong, twisted cords.
25Boats from Tarshish sailed far
to carry the things that you sold.
You were like a boat
full of heavy things in the sea.
26The men who rowed your boats
took you far into the sea,
but then a strong eastern wind
started to blow and it broke your boat
in the middle of the sea.
27When you went down on that day,
everything that you had went down
into the water with you,
in the middle of the sea, everything you had
that you had bought and sold,
and also your seamen, the carpenters
who had to repair your boat,
your merchants, your soldiers,
and all your people who were on your boats.
28The land trembled when
your seamen started to shout
and ask someone to help them.
29All the men who were rowing
got off their boats and the seamen
were standing on the land.
30They started to shout_loudly about you.
They cried and asked someone to help them.
They threw sand on their heads
and went to the ash-heap
and lay in the dirty sand
to show how sad they were.
31They shaved off all the hair on their heads
for you and they put on sack-cloth.
They were sad and they cried over you.
They were upset and mourned.
32They cried and started
to sing a funeral song for you.
They said: “‘No city was destroyed
as badly as Tyre deep in the sea.”’
33The merchants took the things
that you sold over the sea,
and then a lot of nations had enough,
more than enough.
You made the kings of the earth rich
with everything that you sold.
34But now you are broken by the sea
and you have gone down deep into the water.
The things that you bought and all your people
have gone down into the water with you.
35Everyone who lives in lands near the sea
has become afraid of what has happened to you.
Their kings have become afraid and
they tremble. Their faces have become pale.
36The merchants of all nations
whistle at you. They are afraid
because of what has happened to you.
You will never be a city again.” ’
