Ezekiel 26:15-18

C. The Result of Tyre's Destruction 26:15-18

TRANSLATION

(15) Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter occurs in your midst? (16) Then all the princes of the sea shall go down from upon their thrones, and remove their robes, and strip off their woven garments; they shall clothe themselves with trembling; upon the ground they shall sit, and shall tremble continually, and be appalled over you. (17) And they shall take up for you a lamentation, and they shall say to you: How sad that the one who was populated from the seas, has been destroyed the famous city, which was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which caused their terror to be on all its inhabitants. (18) Now shall the islands tremble in the day of your fall; the islands which are in the sea shall be frightened because of your departure.

COMMENTS

A whole network of satellite trading colonies would be affected by the fall of Tyre. The coastal states along the Mediterranean would quake in consternation and dismay at the news of the fall of Tyre and the terrible slaughter which had transpired there (Ezekiel 26:15). Again using prophetic hyperbole, the prophet describes the rulers of these trading partners removing their royal robes and clothing themselves with trembling, i.e., they would take on the disposition and demeanor of mourners. They would sit on the ground trembling, visibly shaken by the news that such a powerful overlord had been destroyed (Ezekiel 26:16).

News of the demise of Tyre would evoke a lament from neighboring princes. How sad it is,[389] they would wail. The most famous and most powerful of all the seafaring people had been destroyed! (Ezekiel 26:17). If Tyre has fallen, who would be next? The shipping communities on the islands and coastlands of the Mediterranean would tremble as they contemplated their own prospects for survival (Ezekiel 26:18).

[389] The Hebrew ech (elsewhere echah) introduces a dirge.