Ezekiel 28 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~586 BC, shortly after Jerusalem's fall
Location
Tyre and its neighbour Sidon, the two leading Phoenician city-states on the coast north of Israel
Audience
Judean exiles in Babylonia
Situation
Two oracles address the ruler of Tyre, first charging him with claiming to be a god because of his wealth and cleverness, then singing a lament that pictures him as a dazzling figure in the garden of God, covered in precious stones, cast down for pride and dishonest trade. A shorter oracle follows against Sidon, and the section closes with a promise that Israel will one day live safely among these neighbours.
Key Background
Near Eastern kings routinely presented themselves in divine or semi-divine terms in royal inscriptions, so the charge of self-deification is aimed at a real political style rather than a private delusion. The imagery of a jewelled figure in Eden, on a holy mountain, guarded by a cherub, draws on both the garden story and the decorated guardian figures of temple art. Because the picture goes beyond any human king, later Jewish and Christian readers often took it as also describing the fall of a heavenly being, though the address in the chapter is to the king of a trading city.
Then the word of came to me:
of say to the of Tyre: This is what Yahweh, the Sovereign One, declares — Your has swelled with pride. You said, 'I am a god; I sit on the throne of gods in the of the seas.' But you are a not a god, though you set your heart as if it were the of a god."
"Look — you think you're wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you!"
"By your and cunning you've amassed great wealth. You've piled gold and silver into your treasuries."
"Through your brilliant trading your wealth kept growing — and your heart swelled with it."
"So this is what Yahweh, the Sovereign One, declares— Because you set your heart as if it were the heart of a god,"
"I am bringing against you — the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and pierce your shining
"They will drag you down to the pit. You will die the death of the slain in the of the
"Will you still say 'I am a god' to the face of those who kill you? You are a man, not a god, in the grip of those who cut you down."
"You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of strangers. I have spoken," declares Yahweh, the Sovereign One.
Then the word of Yahweh came to me:
"Son of man, raise a over the of Tyre. Say to him: This is what Yahweh, the Sovereign One, declares — You were the of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty."
"You were in the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald — all set in gold, crafted and prepared on the day you were
"You were an creature; I placed you there. You walked among the of fire on the that to
"You were in your ways from the day you were created — until was found in you."
"Through the vastness of your trade you filled yourself with violence, and you failed. So I cast you as defiled from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, guardian creature, from among the stones of fire."
"Your heart swelled because of your beauty. You your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the ground; I made you a before kings."
"By many failures, through the corruption of trade, you desecrated the you for gods. So I brought from you, and it consumed you. I turned you to ash on the ground before the eyes of all who watched."
"All the nations who knew you are stunned by what you've become. You have become horrifying, and you are — forever."
Then the word of Yahweh came to me:
"Son of man, Sidon and prophesy against her."
"Say: This is what Yahweh, the Sovereign declares. I am against you, Sidon, and I will display my of in your midst. They will know that I am Yahweh when I carry out justice against her and show through her that there is no me."
"I will send into her and blood into her streets. The slain will fall within her from swords pressing in on every side. Then they will that I am
"And for the house of Israel, there will no longer be a thorn or a piercing briar from any of the nations around them who treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, the Sovereign One."
"This is what Yahweh, the Sovereign declares. When I the house of Israel from the nations where they've been scattered, I will show through them, in the sight of all peoples, that there is no me. They will live on their own soil, the land I gave to my servant
"They will live there in safety. They will and vineyards. They will live in safety when I execute justice on all their neighbors who treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, their God."