Yehezkiel 25:3

25:3 Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: You said “Aha!” about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile.

Yehezkiel 26:2

26:2 “Son of man, because Tyre ¹  has said about Jerusalem, ²  ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I will become rich, ³  now that she ⁴  has been destroyed,’

Yehezkiel 28:2-9

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ⁵  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ⁶  and you said, “I am a god; ⁷ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ⁸ 

28:3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel; ⁹ 

no secret is hidden from you. ¹⁰ 

28:4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself;

you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.

28:5 By your great skill ¹¹  in trade you have increased your wealth,

and your heart is proud because of your wealth.

28:6 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Because you think you are godlike, ¹² 

28:7 I am about to bring foreigners ¹³  against you, the most terrifying of nations.

They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, ¹⁴ 

and they will defile your splendor.

28:8 They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die violently ¹⁵  in the heart of the seas.

28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you –

though you are a man and not a god –

when you are in the power of those who wound you?

Yehezkiel 29:3

29:3 Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against ¹⁶  you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster ¹⁷  lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” ¹⁸ 

[26:2]  ¹ sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.

[26:2]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[26:2]  ³ tn Heb “I will be filled.”

[26:2]  ⁴ sn That is, Jerusalem.

[28:2]  ⁵ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  sn See Prov 16:5.

[28:2]  ⁷ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”

[28:3]  ⁹ sn Or perhaps “Danel” (so TEV), referring to a ruler known from Canaanite legend. See the note on “Daniel” in 14:14. A reference to Danel (preserved in legend at Ugarit, near the northern end of the Phoenician coast) makes more sense here when addressing Tyre than in 14:14.

[28:3]  ¹⁰ sn The tone here is sarcastic, reflecting the ruler’s view of himself.

[28:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “wisdom.”

[28:6]  ¹² tn Heb “because of your making your heart like the heart of gods.”

[28:7]  ¹³ sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.

[28:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”

[28:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”

[29:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[29:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew mss read correctly “the serpent.” The Hebrew term appears to refer to a serpent in Exod 7:9-10, 12; Deut 32:33; and Ps 91:13. It also refers to large creatures that inhabit the sea (Gen 1:21; Ps 148:7). In several passages it is associated with the sea or with the multiheaded sea monster Leviathan (Job 7:12; Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; 51:9). Because of the Egyptian setting of this prophecy and the reference to the creature’s scales (v. 4), many understand a crocodile to be the referent here (e.g., NCV “a great crocodile”; TEV “you monster crocodile”; CEV “a giant crocodile”).

[29:3]  ¹⁸ sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.