About Ezekiel

Ezekiel proclaimed God's judgment from Babylon, using dramatic visions and symbolic acts, while promising future restoration.

Author: EzekielWritten: c. 593-571 BCReading time: ~3 minVerses: 21
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King James Version

Ezekiel 26

21 verses with commentary

Prophecy Against Tyre

And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying</strong>—This precise dating formula (Hebrew <em>vayehi</em>, וַיְהִי) marks a significant prophetic oracle against Tyre. The eleventh year of Jehoiachin's exile corresponds to 587 BC, the very year Jerusalem fell to Babylon. The "first day of the month" (without specifyi...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(1) **In the first day of the month.**—The year was that in which Jerusalem fell (2Kings 25:2-4; 2Kings 25:8-9), but the month is not given here, and cannot now be ascertained. It is plain from Ezekiel 26:2 that Tyre already felt sure of the issue of the siege; but there is a marked difference between this and the language in Ezekiel 25:3, which could only have been used after the capture of the c...
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Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:

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KJV Study Commentary

Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people quotes Tyre's schadenfreude at Jerusalem's fall. Aha expresses malicious glee. She is broken refers to Jerusalem's destruction (586 BC). The gates of the people suggests Jerusalem was a commercial hub controlling trade routes; with her fallen, Tyre expected increased trade. She is turned...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(2) **She is broken that was the gates of the people.**—“Gates” is in the plural simply because the word originally means *a leaf *of a door or gate, and hence the two leaves mean *the gate; *accordingly the sense would be better conveyed by using the singular in English. On the other hand, “people, both here and in Ezekiel 27:3, is intentionally in the plural =the nations. By omitting all the wor...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 52 Jr 52:1-34. Written by Some Other than Jeremiah (Probably Ezra) AS AN Historical Supplement to the Previous Prophecies (See on Jr 51:64). Jeremiah, having already (thirty-ninth and fortieth chapters) given the history in the proper place, was not likely to repeat it here. Its canonical authority as inspired is shown by its being in the Septuagint version. It contains the capture and b...
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Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.

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KJV Study Commentary

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus announces divine opposition. The phrase I am against thee is one of Scripture's most terrifying statements—God Himself as enemy. And will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up predicts successive invasions. Like waves relentlessly pounding a shore, nations will repeatedly attack Tyre...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(3) **Many nations.**—The prophet here, at the outset, glances down through the ages of Tyre’s future history. He has in mind not merely the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, of which he will speak more particularly presently (Ezekiel 26:7-11), but all the successive conquests until the proud city should be reduced to utter desolation. Most appropriate to the situation and habits of Tyre is the illustra...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**4. forts--**rather, towers of wood [Kimchi], for watching the movements of the besieged from the height and annoying them with missiles.

And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.

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KJV Study Commentary

And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers predicts military conquest. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock uses striking imagery—God will scrape Tyre clean like scraping barnacles off a rock, leaving bare stone. This prophecy was fulfilled when Alexander used Tyre's mainland rubble to build his causeway to the island, literally scrapi...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(4) **Her dust.**—Comp. Ezekiel 26:12. The dust is that of her ruined walls and palaces and temples. “Scraping” expresses their utter destruction. As an historic fact, the ruins of the ancient city have all been thrown into the sea, and what now remains is of mediaeval construction, although the greater part of even the mediaeval ruins have been carried away.

It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.

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KJV Study Commentary

It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea predicts Tyre's reduction from commercial superpower to fishing village. For I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD seals the prophecy with divine authority. And it shall become a spoil to the nations indicates plunder by many powers. What was prosperous becomes desolate; what was proud becomes pitiful. The contrast between mariti...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(5) **The spreading of nets.**—Such has been the chief use of insular Tyre for ages, and although a miserable village of 3,000 people has sprung up, chiefly within the present century, upon a part of its site, other parts have still no more important use. The Tyre upon the mainland has so utterly disappeared that even its site cannot be exactly identified.

And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

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KJV Study Commentary

And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword refers to Tyre's dependent cities and colonies on the mainland. Daughters means satellite settlements. The mainland cities will be conquered militarily. And they shall know that I am the LORD declares that judgment's purpose is revelatory—producing recognition of Yahweh's sovereignty. This recognition formula appears throughout E...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(6) **Daughters which are in the field.**—Comp. Ezekiel 26:8. A poetic way of describing the dependencies of Tyre upon the mainland. In Ezekiel 26:7-11 the particular and now impending conquest by Nebuchadnezzar is graphically described, and then, with the change to the plural in Ezekiel 26:12, there seems to be again a looking forward to the long vista of successive devastations.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. (See on Jr 39:4).

For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.

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KJV Study Commentary

For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon specifies the immediate agent of judgment. From the north indicates Babylon's approach—the standard invasion route into the Levant. A king of kings identifies Nebuchadnezzar's imperial status, ruling over subject kings. With horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people catalo...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(7) **Nebuchadrezzar.**—So the name is very often written by Jeremiah and a few times by Ezekiel. It is, perhaps, a closer representation of the *Nabu-kudurriuzur *of the Babylonian cylinders than the form finally adopted by the Hebrews of Nebuchadnezzar. **A king of kings, from the north.**—He is called a “king of kings” because of the many countries subject to his sway, whose kings were his vass...
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He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. cast: or, pour out the engine of shot

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KJV Study Commentary

He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field predicts the mainland settlements' destruction. And he shall make a fort against thee describes siege works. And cast a mount against thee refers to earthen siege ramps. And lift up the buckler against thee means raising siege shields. The technical military details show God's intimate knowledge of warfare and His use of standard military pra...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(8) **A fort . . . a mount.**—These and the following particulars of the siege indicate the use of the ordinary methods as in the attack of a city on the mainland. The explanation of this is doubtless partly in the fact that Palæotyrus, Old Tyre, upon the mainland, was approached in the ordinary way, and partly that Nebuchadnezzar must have contrived a bridge of boats, or some other method of appr...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**9. gave judgment upon him--**as guilty of rebellion and perjury (Jr 52:3; compare Eze 23:24).

And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

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KJV Study Commentary

And he shall set engines of war against thy walls predicts siege engines—battering rams and similar devices. And with his axes he shall break down thy towers indicates systematic demolition of fortifications. Axes (or picks) were used to dismantle stone walls once breached. The image is one of methodical destruction, not random violence. Judgment is orderly, purposeful, and thorough. God's judgmen...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(9) **Engines of war.**—This is now generally understood to mean *battering-rams, *although the word is a different one from that used in Ezekiel 4:2; Ezekiel 21:22. There are two words here which may form one compound word. **Axes **in the original is *swords. *It may either be used, the specific for the general, swords for all instruments of war; or it may be a poetic hyperbole, to express the p...
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By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. as men: Heb. according to the enterings of a city broken up

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KJV Study Commentary

By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee describes the massive Babylonian cavalry creating dust clouds. Thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots predicts the trembling ground from thousands of horses and chariots. When he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach describes the final as...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(10) **Shall enter into thy gates.**—The whole description of this verse again implies that Nebuchadnezzar had contrived some way by which his armies, with horsemen and chariots, could march into the city, and the prophet gives a glowing poetic description of the effect of their entrance.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. Eze 12:13: "I will bring him to Babylon ... yet shall he not see it." **prison--**literally, "the house of visitations," or "punishments," that is, where there was penal work enforced on the prisoners, such as grinding. Hence the Septuagint renders it "the house of the mill." So Samson, after his eyes were put out, "ground" in the Philistine prison-house (Jud 16:21).

With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.

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KJV Study Commentary

With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets continues the vivid imagery. Horses trampling streets represents total conquest and occupation. He shall slay thy people by the sword predicts loss of life. And thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground means fortifications will be demolished. The phrase strong garrisons ironically contrasts military strength with ultimate vul...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(11) **Thy strong garrisons.—**This is the only instance in the Bible in which this common word is so translated, although a word closely akin to it is rendered *garrison *throughout the Books of Samuel. Both words mean a pillar set up as a monument or memorial. Translate, therefore, *the pillars of thy strength. *It is probable that the pillars intended are those mentioned by Herodotus (Bk. 2:44)...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**12. tenth day--**But in 2Ki 25:8, it is said "the seventh day." Nebuzara-dan started from Riblah on the "seventh" day and arrived in Jerusalem on the "tenth" day. Seeming discrepancies, when cleared up, confirm the genuineness of Scripture; for they show there was no collusion between the writers; as in all God's works there is latent harmony under outward varieties.

And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. thy pleasant: Heb. houses of thy desire

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KJV Study Commentary

And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise predicts plunder of Tyre's legendary wealth. And they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses continues the demolition. And they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water describes the remarkable detail that Tyre's rubble will end up in the sea. This was literally fulf...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(12) **They shall make.**—In Ezekiel 26:12 the nominative changes. It is no longer Nebuchadnezzar who does these things, but “they.” This may intimate that the prophet’s vision now again passes beyond the immediate future to the long succession of calamities, beginning indeed with Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest, with which Tyre was to be visited. The “spoil” and “prey” is to be understood more of what ...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**13. all the houses ... and all the houses of the great--**the "and" defines what houses especially are meant, namely, the houses of the great men.

And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.

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KJV Study Commentary

And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease removes Tyre's joy and celebration. And the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard silences music—the soundtrack of prosperous life. The change from singing to silence represents the end of happiness and prosperity. When God judges, joy departs. The absence of music indicates desolation—no celebrations, no weddings, no festivals. Judgment brings ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(13) **I will cause.**—Here God speaks of His own direct action, and declares that all these calamities are ordered by Him; and in this and the following verse the prophecy of Ezekiel 26:4-5, is repeated that Tyre shall be utterly wasted and desolate, and never be rebuilt. In Ezekiel 26:15-21 the effect of the fall of Tyre upon other maritime people is set forth. It is to be remembered that these ...
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And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

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KJV Study Commentary

And I will make thee like the top of a rock repeats verse 4's imagery—bare, scraped clean. Thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon confirms fishing village status. Thou shalt be built no more declares permanent diminishment. For I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD seals the prophecy with divine authority. The repetition emphasizes certainty. The phrase built no more doesn't mean absolu...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**15. poor of ... people--**added to the account in 2Ki 25:11. "The poor of the people" are of the city, as distinguished from "the poor of the land," that is, of the country.

Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?</strong>—The rhetorical question expects affirmative answer: Yes, the coastlands will tremble. The Hebrew <em>iyim</em> (אִיִּים, "isles") refers to Mediterranean coastal regions and islands dependent on Tyre's trade network. <em>Ra'as...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(15) **The isles.**—This word is constantly used in Scripture, not merely for islands, strictly so called, but for any sea-coasts. The main reference here, no doubt, is to the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean; but as Tyrian commerce extended also beyond, the language need not be entirely restricted to these. The tidings of the conquest of Tyre is poetically represented as “the sound of her ...
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Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee. trembling: Heb. tremblings

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling</strong>—The "princes of the sea" (Hebrew <em>nesiey hayam</em>, נְשִׂיאֵי הַיָּם) are rulers of maritime city-states in Tyre's commercial network. Their descending from thrones signals abdication of authority and di...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(16) **Princes of the sea.**—Or, as we should say, *merchant princes. *(Comp. Isaiah 23:8.) Actual sovereigns are not meant, but those raised by commerce to wealth and power. Their astonishment and grief is poetically described under the figure of the customs of Oriental mourning. (Comp. Jonah 3:6.) “Thrones” should rather be translated *seats, *as in Judges 3:20; 1Samuel 1:9; 1Samuel 4:13; 1Samue...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**17. brake--**that they might be more portable. Fulfilling the prophecy (Jr 27:19). See 1Ki 7:15, 23, 27, 50. Nothing is so particularly related here as the carrying away of the articles in the temple. The remembrance of their beauty and preciousness heightens the bitterness of their loss and the evil of sin which caused it. **brass ... brazen--**rather "copper ... of copper."

And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it! of: Heb. of the seas

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea</strong>—The Hebrew <em>qinah</em> (קִינָה, "lamentation") is a formal funeral dirge. Surrounding nations will sing a death song for Tyre. <strong>"How art thou destroyed"</strong> (<em>eykh avadt</em>, אֵיךְ אָבַדְתְּ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(17) **Inhabited of seafaring men.**—Rather, *in-habited from the sea. *The word, which is very common, never bears the sense of men. The thought is that the rock of Tyre, built up with dwellings to the water’s edge was like a city rising from the sea. **Which cause their terror.**—This clause has occasioned much difficulty. The literal translation is, *she and her inhabitants, which gave their fe...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. (Ex 27:3).

Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure</strong>—Repetition intensifies the message. The Hebrew <em>yecherdu</em> (יֶחֶרְדוּ, "shall tremble") and <em>nibhalu</em> (נִבְהֲלוּ, "shall be troubled") are synonyms for terror, fear, and panic. The doubling—"isles tremble...isles troubled"—creates poetic emphasis. ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(18) **The isles tremble.**—“Isles” here, as elsewhere, includes coasts. It must be remembered how numerous the colonies of Phœnicia were. They had been established in Cyprus. Rhodes, Malta, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and Africa. In some of these there were several colonies, as Utica and Carthage in Africa, Gades (Cadiz), Kalpe (Gibraltar), and Malaka (Malaga) in Spain. All of ...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**19. of gold in gold--**implying that the articles were of solid gold and silver respectively, not of a different metal inside, or alloyed [Grotius]. Whole: not breaking them as was done to the "brass" (Jr 52:17).

For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee.</strong> This prophetic judgment against Tyre employs dramatic imagery of cosmic devastation. The Hebrew word for "desolate" (<em>shammah</em>, שַׁמָּה) conveys utter ruin and horror—a city so destroyed it ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(19) **Bring up the deep upon thee.**—With Ezekiel 26:19 begins the closing section of this prophecy, and in it the other parts are summed up and emphasised. The figurative language by which the overwhelming of Tyre is here described is again appropriate to her natural situation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**20. bulls ... under the bases--**But the bulls were not "under the bases," but under the sea (1Ki 7:25, 27, 38); the ten bases were not under the sea, but under the ten lavers. In English Version, "bases," therefore, must mean the lower parts of the sea under which the bulls were. Rather, translate, "the bulls were in the place of (that is, 'by way of'; so the Hebrew, 1Sa 14:9), bases," or suppo...
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When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit</strong>—Tyre's judgment continues. בּוֹר (bôr, 'pit') often means Sheol, the realm of the dead (Psalm 28:1, Isaiah 14:15). <strong>With the people of old time</strong> (עַם־עוֹלָם, ʿam-ʿôlām)—ancient civilizations already destroyed and forgotten.<br><br><strong>And shall set glory in the land of the living</strong>—While Tyr...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(20) **With them that descend into the pit.**—Comp. Isaiah 14:9-20. Tyre is here represented, as Babylon is there, as joining itself to the dead—a striking figure to indicate its utter and final destruction. This is to be understood of the Tyre that then was, the proud mistress of the sea. The question whether there might or might not ever be other inhabitants on the rock of Tyre is one which does...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**21. eighteen cubits--**but in 2Ch 3:15, it is "thirty-five cubits." The discrepancy is thus removed. Each pillar was eighteen common cubits. The two together, deducting the base, were thirty-five, as stated in 2Ch 3:15 [Grotius]. Other ways (for example, by reference to the difference between the common and the sacred cubit) are proposed: though we are not able positively to decide now which is ...
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I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD. a terror: Heb. terrors

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more</strong>—בַּלָּהוֹת (ballāhôt, 'terrors/horrifying thing') describes Tyre as an object lesson of judgment. <strong>Though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD</strong>—The Hebrew תְבֻקְשִׁי וְלֹא־תִמָּצְאִי (tĕbuqshî wĕlōʾ-timmāṣĕʾî, 'you will be sought but not found') promises permanent erasure.<br...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**22. five cubits--**so 1Ki 7:16. But 2Ki 25:17 has "three cubits." There were two parts in the chapiter: the one lower and plain, of two cubits; the other, higher and curiously carved, of three cubits. The former is omitted in 2Ki 25:17, as belonging to the shaft of the pillar; the latter alone is there mentioned. Here the whole chapiter of five cubits is referred to.

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