To The Word – Day 195

₁On the first day of the… month of the eleventh year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. ₂“Mortal man,” he said, “this is what the people in the city of Tyre are cheering about. They shout, ‘Jerusalem is shattered! Her commercial power is gone! She won't be our rival any more!’

₃“Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: I am your enemy, city of Tyre. I will bring many nations to attack you, and they will come like the waves of the sea. ₄They will destroy your city walls and tear down your towers. Then I will sweep away all the dust and leave only a bare rock. ₅Fishermen will dry their nets on it, there where it stands in the sea. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. The nations will plunder Tyre, ₆and with their swords they will kill those who live in her towns on the mainland. Then Tyre will know that I am the LORD.”

₇The Sovereign LORD says, “I am going to bring the greatest king of all — King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia — to attack Tyre. He will come from the north with a huge army, with horses and chariots and with cavalry. ₈Those who live in the towns on the mainland will be killed in the fighting. The enemy will dig trenches, build earthworks, and make a solid wall of shields against you. ₉They will pound in your walls with battering rams and tear down your towers with iron bars. ₁₀The clouds of dust raised by their horses will cover you. The noise of their horses pulling wagons and chariots will shake your walls as they pass through the gates of the ruined city. ₁₁Their horsemen will storm through your streets, killing your people with their swords. Your mighty pillars will be thrown to the ground. ₁₂Your enemies will help themselves to your wealth and merchandise. They will pull down your walls and shatter your luxurious houses. They will take the stones and wood and all the rubble, and dump them into the sea. ₁₃I will put an end to all your songs, and I will silence the music of your harps. ₁₄I will leave only a bare rock where fishermen can dry their nets. The city will never be rebuilt. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.”

₁₅The Sovereign LORD has this to say to the city of Tyre: “When you are being conquered, the people who live along the coast will be terrified at the screams of those who are slaughtered. ₁₆All the kings of the seafaring nations will come down from their thrones. They will take off their robes and their embroidered clothes and sit trembling on the ground. They will be so terrified at your fate that they will not be able to stop trembling. ₁₇They will sing this funeral song for you:

₁₉The Sovereign LORD says: “I will make you as desolate as ruined cities where no one lives. I will cover you with the water of the ocean depths. ₂₀I will send you down to the world of the dead to join the people who lived in ancient times. I will make you stay in that underground world among eternal ruins, keeping company with the dead. As a result you will never again be inhabited and take your place in the land of the living. ₂₁I will make you a terrifying example, and that will be the end of you. People may look for you, but you will never be found.” The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

₁The LORD said to me, ₂“Mortal man, sing a funeral song for Tyre, ₃that city which stands at the edge of the sea and does business with the people living on every seacoast. Tell her what the Sovereign LORD is saying:

₁₀“Soldiers from Persia, Lydia, and Libya served in your army. They hung their shields and their helmets in your barracks. They are the men who won glory for you. ₁₁Soldiers from Arvad guarded your walls, and men from Gamad guarded your towers. They hung their shields on your walls. They are the men who made you beautiful.

₁₂“You did business in Spain and took silver, iron, tin, and lead in payment for your abundant goods. ₁₃You did business in Greece, Tubal, and Meshech and traded your goods for slaves and for articles of bronze. ₁₄You sold your goods for draught horses, war horses, and mules from Beth Togarmah. ₁₅The people of Rhodes traded with you; people of many coastal lands gave you ivory and ebony in exchange for your goods. ₁₆The people of Syria bought your merchandise and your many products. They gave emeralds, purple cloth, embroidery, fine linen, coral, and rubies in payment for your wares. ₁₇Judah and Israel paid for your goods with wheat, honey, olive oil, and spices. _18-19The people of Damascus bought your merchandise and your products, paying for them with wine from Helbon and wool from Sahar. They exchanged wrought iron and spices for your goods. ₂₀The people of Dedan exchanged saddlecloths for your goods. ₂₁The Arabians and the rulers of the land of Kedar paid for your merchandise with lambs, sheep, and goats. ₂₂For your goods the merchants of Sheba and Raamah exchanged jewels, gold, and the finest spices. ₂₃The cities of Haran, Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, the cities of Asshur and Chilmad — they all traded with you. ₂₄They sold you luxurious clothing, purple cloth, and embroidery, brightly coloured carpets, and well-made cords and ropes. ₂₅Your merchandise was carried in fleets of the largest cargo ships.

₃₅“Everyone who lives along the coast is shocked at your fate. Even their kings are terrified, and fear is written on their faces. ₃₆You are gone, gone for ever, and merchants all over the world are terrified, afraid that they will share your fate.”

₁The LORD spoke to me. ₂“Mortal man,” he said, “tell the ruler of Tyre what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to him: puffed up with pride, you claim to be a god. You say that like a god you sit on a throne, surrounded by the seas. You may pretend to be a god, but, no, you are mortal, not divine. ₃You think you are wiser than Danel, that no secret can be kept from you. ₄Your wisdom and skill made you rich with treasures of gold and silver. ₅You made clever business deals and kept on making profits. How proud you are of your wealth!

₆“Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: because you think you are as wise as a god, ₇I will bring ruthless enemies to attack you. They will destroy all the beautiful things you have acquired by your skill and wisdom. ₈They will kill you and send you to a watery grave. ₉When they come to kill you, will you still claim that you are a god? When you face your murderers, you will be mortal and not at all divine. ₁₀You will die like a dog at the hand of godless foreigners. I, the Sovereign LORD, have given the command.”

₁₁The LORD spoke to me again. ₁₂“Mortal man,” he said, “grieve for the fate that is waiting for the king of Tyre. Tell him what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: you were once an example of perfection. How wise and handsome you were! ₁₃You lived in Eden, the garden of God, and wore gems of every kind: rubies and diamonds; topaz, beryl, carnelian, and jasper; sapphires, emeralds, and garnets. You had ornaments of gold. They were made for you on the day you were created. ₁₄I put a terrifying angel there to guard you. You lived on my holy mountain and walked among sparkling gems. ₁₅Your conduct was perfect from the day you were created until you began to do evil. ₁₆You were busy buying and selling, and this led you to violence and sin. So I forced you to leave my holy mountain, and the angel who guarded you drove you away from the sparkling gems. ₁₇You were proud of being handsome, and your fame made you act like a fool. Because of this I hurled you to the ground and left you as a warning to other kings. ₁₈You did such evil in buying and selling that your places of worship were corrupted. So I set fire to the city and burnt it to the ground. All who look at you now see you reduced to ashes. ₁₉You are gone, gone for ever, and all the nations that had come to know you are terrified, afraid that they will share your fate.”

₂₀The LORD said to me, ₂₁“Mortal man, denounce the city of Sidon. ₂₂Tell the people there what I, the Sovereign LORD, say about them: I am your enemy, Sidon; people will praise me because of what I do to you. They will know that I am the LORD, when I show how holy I am by punishing those who live in you. ₂₃I will send diseases on you and make blood flow in your streets. You will be attacked from every side, and your people will be killed. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”

₂₄The LORD said, “None of the surrounding nations that treated Israel with scorn will ever again be like thorns and briars to hurt Israel. And they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.”

₂₅The Sovereign LORD said, “I will bring back the people of Israel from the nations where I scattered them, and all the nations will know that I am holy. The people of Israel will live in their own land, the land that I gave to my servant Jacob. ₂₆They will live there in safety. They will build houses and plant vineyards. I will punish all their neighbours who treated them with scorn, and Israel will be secure. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.”

₁On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. ₂“Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the king of Egypt. Tell him how he and all the land of Egypt will be punished. ₃Say that this is what the Sovereign LORD is telling the king of Egypt: I am your enemy, you monster crocodile, lying in the river. You say that the Nile is yours and that you made it. ₄I am going to put a hook through your jaw and make the fish in your river stick fast to you. Then I will pull you up out of the Nile, with all the fish sticking to you. ₅I will throw you and all those fish into the desert. Your body will fall on the ground and be left unburied. I will give it to the birds and animals for food. ₆Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD.”

The LORD says, “The Israelites relied on you Egyptians for support, but you were no better than a weak stick. ₇When they leaned on you, you broke, pierced their armpits, and made them wrench their backs. ₈Now then, I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you that I will get troops to attack you with swords, and they will kill your people and your animals. ₉Egypt will become an empty waste. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

“Because you said that the Nile is yours and you made it, ₁₀I am your enemy and the enemy of your Nile. I will make all of Egypt an empty waste, from the city of Migdol in the north to the city of Aswan in the south, all the way to the Ethiopian border. ₁₁No human being or animal will walk through it. For forty years nothing will live there. ₁₂I will make Egypt the most desolate country in the world. For forty years the cities of Egypt will lie in ruins, ruins worse than those of any other city. I will make the Egyptians refugees. They will flee to every country and live among other peoples.”

₁₃The Sovereign LORD says, “After forty years I will bring the Egyptians back from the nations where I have scattered them, ₁₄and I will let them live in southern Egypt, their original home. There they will be a weak kingdom, ₁₅the weakest kingdom of all, and they will never again rule over other nations. I will make them so unimportant that they will not be able to bend any other nation to their will. ₁₆Israel will never again depend on them for help. Egypt's fate will remind Israel how wrong it was to rely on them. Then Israel will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.”

₁₇On the first day of the first month of the 27th year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. ₁₈“Mortal man,” he said, “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia launched an attack on Tyre. He made his soldiers carry such heavy loads that their heads were rubbed bald and their shoulders were worn raw, but neither the king nor his army got anything for all their trouble. ₁₉So now this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: I am giving the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar. He will loot and plunder it and carry off all the wealth of Egypt as his army's pay. ₂₀I am giving him Egypt in payment for his services, because his army was working for me. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.

₂₁“When that happens, I will make the people of Israel strong and let you, Ezekiel, speak out where everyone can hear you, so that they will know that I am the LORD.”

₁The LORD spoke again. ₂“Mortal man,” he said, “prophesy and announce what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying. You are to shout these words:

₅“That war will also kill the soldiers hired from Ethiopia, Lydia, Libya, Arabia, Kub, and even from among my own people.”

₆The LORD says, “From Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south, all Egypt's defenders will be killed in battle. Egypt's proud army will be destroyed. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. ₇The land will be the most desolate in the world, and its cities will be left totally in ruins. ₈When I set fire to Egypt and all her defenders are killed, then they will know that I am the LORD.

₉“When that day comes and Egypt is destroyed, I will send messengers in ships to arouse the unsuspecting people of Ethiopia, and they will be terrified. That day is coming!”

₁₀The Sovereign LORD says, “I will use King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to put an end to Egypt's wealth. ₁₁He and his ruthless army will come to devastate the land. They will attack Egypt with swords, and the land will be full of corpses. ₁₂I will dry up the Nile and put Egypt under the power of evil people. Foreigners will devastate the whole country. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁₃The Sovereign LORD says, “I will destroy the idols and the false gods in Memphis. There will be no one to rule over Egypt, and I will terrify all the people. ₁₄I will make southern Egypt desolate and set fire to the city of Zoan in the north. I will punish the capital city of Thebes. ₁₅I will let the city of Pelusium, Egypt's great fortress, feel my fury. I will destroy the wealth of Thebes. ₁₆I will set fire to Egypt, and Pelusium will be in agony. The walls of Thebes will be broken down, and the city will be flooded. ₁₇The young men of the cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in the war, and the other people will be taken prisoner. ₁₈Darkness will fall on Tahpanhes when I break the power of Egypt and put an end to the strength they were so proud of. A cloud will cover Egypt, and the people of all her cities will be taken prisoner. ₁₉When I punish Egypt in this way, they will know that I am the LORD.”

₂₀On the seventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. ₂₁“Mortal man,” he said, “I have broken the arm of the king of Egypt. No one has bandaged it or put it in a sling so that it could heal and be strong enough to hold a sword again. ₂₂Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, say: I am the enemy of the king of Egypt. I am going to break both his arms — the good one and the one already broken — and the sword will fall from his hand. ₂₃I am going to scatter the Egyptians throughout the world. ₂₄Then I will make the arms of the king of Babylonia strong and put my sword in his hands. But I will break the arms of the king of Egypt, and he will groan and die in front of his enemy. ₂₅Yes, I will weaken him and strengthen the king of Babylonia. When I give him my sword and he points it towards Egypt, everyone will know that I am the LORD. ₂₆I will scatter the Egyptians throughout the world. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”